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Letters

A Message of Compassion and Care

By
David

David writes from a prison in NSW.

Sydney Rae via Unsplash

Included is a poem written by Michael and my honest response of encouragement. May it offer hope to anyone who challenges themselves to choose to heal toward being a quality human. There are so many men wanting to transform. There are many who hear their pain. There are too few who truly listen. About Time gives all a voice to proclaim their sorrow and continue their amends. This challenges all to honestly listen with compassion and care. Thanks to you and your professionalism for making transformation possible.

Shalom, David.

Michael:

Alone in my cell, in my cell each day I cry.

It doesn’t matter if I live or die.

People laugh at me and don’t feel my pain,

Even when it’s sunny it feels like rain.

Each day I know I’m losing hope.

What’s gone, can no longer cope.

A man can no longer cope when he has lost everything he loved,

When he’s the only one.

My children have forgotten me,

My shadow has befriended me.

One day you’re nothing, a forgotten king,

And the next, a clown.

And in the sea of sadness I will drown.

God was once my heart, but now I feel we are no longer anything more.

We are held deep, far apart.

I have no more to thrive to live, no more to give.

Just close my eyes and never more weep,

That I may eternally finally sleep.

David:

Michael, you stand at another crossroad of your life. Your poem expresses your feelings of powerlessness.

Your sketches show your desire for goodness. Your sharing indicates seeking wisdom. Your tears are the balm of healing. Your wise words to others are filled with compassion.

It is time to decide: self-honesty or self-pity? Stay powerless or ask for power? Trust in yourself or trust in God’s care? Remain selfish or live selflessly? Choose death or transformation? Die, or live.

David

Included is a poem written by Michael and my honest response of encouragement. May it offer hope to anyone who challenges themselves to choose to heal toward being a quality human. There are so many men wanting to transform. There are many who hear their pain. There are too few who truly listen. About Time gives all a voice to proclaim their sorrow and continue their amends. This challenges all to honestly listen with compassion and care. Thanks to you and your professionalism for making transformation possible.

Shalom, David.

Michael:

Alone in my cell, in my cell each day I cry.

It doesn’t matter if I live or die.

People laugh at me and don’t feel my pain,

Even when it’s sunny it feels like rain.

Each day I know I’m losing hope.

What’s gone, can no longer cope.

A man can no longer cope when he has lost everything he loved,

When he’s the only one.

My children have forgotten me,

My shadow has befriended me.

One day you’re nothing, a forgotten king,

And the next, a clown.

And in the sea of sadness I will drown.

God was once my heart, but now I feel we are no longer anything more.

We are held deep, far apart.

I have no more to thrive to live, no more to give.

Just close my eyes and never more weep,

That I may eternally finally sleep.

David:

Michael, you stand at another crossroad of your life. Your poem expresses your feelings of powerlessness.

Your sketches show your desire for goodness. Your sharing indicates seeking wisdom. Your tears are the balm of healing. Your wise words to others are filled with compassion.

It is time to decide: self-honesty or self-pity? Stay powerless or ask for power? Trust in yourself or trust in God’s care? Remain selfish or live selflessly? Choose death or transformation? Die, or live.

David

This
letter
was originally printed in the
October 2025
edition of About Time.

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Welcome to About Time

About Time is the national newspaper for Australian prisons and detention facilities

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