Court was in session
Always was on
Asking me questions
Jury staring me down
Digging through ashes
Searching for proof
Taking my freedom
My rights my truth
Dragged me to the stand
Under courtroom lights
Exposing each sin
To strangers in the night
It took so long
For me to see me
For me to believe
For me to be free
Always on trial
Every day of my life
Waiting for a verdict
That didn’t matter at all
I am the judge
the jury
the end
I close the case
I hold the pen
I wore their judgment
Like skin on my bones
Called myself broken
In a voice not my own
Left through the back door
Shackled to their words
Tripping down the alley
Dragging hope through the dirt
I believed all of it
And let it eat me
But it just wasn’t true
The record still shows
I never was what they accused
It took so long
For me to see me
For me to believe
For me to be free
Always on trial
Every day of my life
Waiting for a verdict
That didn’t matter at all
I am the judge
the jury
the end
I close the case
I hold the pen
Sentenced to silence
Sentenced to shame
Life without parole
Locked in and alone
For a crime with no name
The words were not fact
Spewed into my chest
Swimming with sharks
Drawn in by the scent
Reading the charges
Written in blood
Convicted by lies
Before I could speak
Get these shackles off of me
It took so long
For me to see me
For me to believe
For me to be free
Always on trial
Every day of my life
Waiting for a verdict
That didn’t matter at all
I am the judge
The jury
The end
I close the case
I hold the pen
Court adjourned
Raven_Brooks
