This poem is submitted in memory of Charlie Prater and all crime victims,
by Charlie's Sister Melissa
THE UNDEFENDED VICTIM
For me no gavel hammer
the scales were never weighed.
My crime was that of a victim
my life was the price I paid.
And when my life was taken
why weren't my rights read?
And the statement, "overruled"
when they pronounced me dead?
I'll never hear my rights
nor take the witness stand
no attorney will defend me,
my fate ws in the killer's hand.
Now the courtroom's crowded
as the defendant pleads his case,
with just a glimmer of a tear,
cold eyes on a straight face.
BUt oh, that I could take the stand
if they could witness my last breath
could they live with the terror
that I went through in death?
If they could hear my pleading cries
and see the hatred in that face,
at last, we'd know, the scales had
"been balanced" in this case.
If I could tell the jury
exactly how it was
the fear and the pain that I went through
struck down without a cause.
Did the jury weigh it all
as they listened to the plea?
There were no emotions showing now,
just the hopes of going free.
The final verdict now is in
as the defendants stand in tears.
If only I had done as well.....
Given ten to twenty years.
|
