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.

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Shalom, David.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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David:

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

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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.

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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.

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David