Your Honor, the verdict has been read,

and judgment has been passed.

Now you commit me to solitary

and throw me this indeterminate sentence.

Do you not realize that prison is a state of mind?

I am liberated, your Honor.

My heart beats freely,

and my spirit has long since delivered me.

Solitary denotes isolation,

but the prisoner before you is not facing solitude.

My life is luxuriously coated in rich dreams.

My thoughts refuse to let hate control me,

and when I dive into my palette of emotions,

paint swims in visual poetry.

My wounds have healed.

‘Faith’ uplifted me

as I vigorously built a world of my own.

And the sun smiled, seductively

as it serenaded her western horizon.

I found a home,

non-infiltrated by injustice,

independent of your oppressive government,

and uninfected by a diseased society.

(He whispers) At night when your world sleeps,

the wind chaperones me.

We dance freely as she dips me,

in momentary silence.

(Tone rises) Then we step as ‘Love’

improvises such intoxicating music.

In my world, I don’t shed blood.

I rest in tranquility.

When I look up,

I see a gentle man crocheting a brilliant needlework.

I smile, your Honor, for the colors are not only integrated but seem so joyful.

In my world, children soar through the sky with charming plumage.

And cries never go unheard, for when someone falls

lamb’s wool is always there to catch you.

If you ever were so fortunate to rest in my world,

You would see a panorama of life snuggling beneath trees.

Love is always intense enough to start a blissful fire.

And as the flame becomes one with the wind,

grace emerges in its wake.

But your Honor,

My world has some laws of its own.

Do not approach my world.

Forget about my world from this day forth.

And If you feel the need to meddle,

you’ll be ousted thereupon.

If I may, your Honor?

Plentiful days await me.