The clock on the wall

THE CLOCK ON THE WALL By Bill Barnes ***************** Prologue: This poem is about the writer's experience of working third shift in the canteen at Central Prison in Raleigh while, down the hall a hundred yards. a human life was being deliberately taken You feel the anguished spirits of the many whose flames have been extinguished In this charnel house before In some vain, forlorn attempt to even some earthly score. And then you stare At the clock on the wall Its hands are moving all-too-quickly Yet its hands are moving oh-so-dreadfully slow It's a countdown to eternity For yet another poor soul The spirits are on you now They've been there all along But now your soul can hear so clearly Their awful, anguished song And with dread wonder You see another minute has tolled On the clock upon the wall There is no spirit of light No, not here tonight The Prince of Darkness laughs upon his throne And the clock upon the wall says Another minute has gone This is the focal point The nexus of many evil roads And you're afraid soon another soul will slip Into the Prince's dark abode And the clock upon the wall Informs us there's only seven more to go… All the evil things you've seen Memories you've tried hard to leave behind All come flooding back in Weighing heavily upon your troubled mind... But now the clock says there's just six Six more minutes to go And if it's hurting you like this What God-awful anguish does the condemned man know There's a trauma in the nether world Turmoil behind the veil And yet again you hear The tormented spirits’ anguished wails What went awry in a young child's life? What went so terribly, terribly wrong? That soon his life will grimly end Behind these walls of stone? And now the clock says There's only five 300 more seconds For this young man to stay alive... God does not wish this This much you know Does not wish his children to strike Yet another deadly blow But the clock says there's only four, Four more minutes to go.. You wonder what stage they're at Is the needle in yet? It's still more of the Devil's work That wicked man begets... And they've planned it all Planned it out so well Practised and rehearsed All the death dance's tiniest details And then you stare At the clock on the wall There's only three more to go... They're doing what down the hall?! They're killing someone?! Yet another senseless act In a "war" that cannot be won..? You wonder how mere mortals dare hurl at God Such a blasphemous insult My God, who's got me here Some Satanic cult..? For they've carefully planned They've premeditated long and well So what hideous demons In their own hearts dwell? And now the clock says There's only two… And, my God, my brother If the waiting's doing this to me 1 cannot imagine what it's doing to you... And I do not know you But I'm sure you were poor For the rich are never chosen To darken death house doors All human sacrifices Are selected strictly from those short of purse For since you have no cash to pay your debt Then your life will serve to reimburse. Well, the crowd will soon be here Hungry after a hard night's work "Protecting society" is a duty these good folks Shall surely never shirk.. They'll buy nabs and cookies Sandwiches and drinks I've noticed before that doing this tasteless task Has never made their stomachs shrink And the clock on the wall says We're down to one Soon the barbaric act Will be forever done And the lost souls cry For this gruesome deed Since the Savior's teachings Earthly leaders refuse to heed And why must politicians’ votes Be purchased with blood? Does taking another poor man’s life Really strike a blow for the forces of good? For who are they to judge? Who are they to override? That which surely Only God can justly decide.. And now the clock on the wall Says nothing at all © 1997 – Bill Barnes [ID number, address] ******* Epilogue: I note, in passing, that during this century, at least 23 Americans were executed who were later proven to have been innocent. But, it was, of course, a little late at that point... Also, since 1973, nearly 80 death row inmates have been freed after retrials in which they were acquitted. > The number of condemned Americans is fast approaching 4,000, PS: Bill Barnes, an inmate in North Carolina, is not on death row yet he feels the horror of "death row". Bill wrote that this is his way of helping to educate the people about the death penalty and won third place in a local writing competition with this poem. He hopes that "we" will use his poem in our work.