A Message To Judges Poem by Jean Mallette

Behind the volted fences,
The gates and walls of stone,
Behind the guarded towers
Where all our men have gone,
Where all our men were hauled away
From courtrooms dark and gloom,
There stands the brokenhearted
To face alone his doom.

The mothers, old and crippled,
The children, shy and small,
Must come to visit loved ones
Behind the dreary walls.
They walk away heavy hearted
To leave behind someone-
A man they love regardless
Of anything he's done.

Oh God, my heart grows weaker
To see my son in chains;
My spirit loses strength each day
To know he suffers pain.
I know my God, he made mistakes
And must lose his life for a while,
But they seem to think he has nine lives
And have heaped vast years on my child.

Please move these pharaohs to feel the tears
That roll from mothers' eyes-
To feel the emptiness of arms
That cannot realize-
Realize again the strength
Their young men give to them,
And cause these hallowed men in robes
To give them back again.
Help them have compassion
On families left alone,
Oh God, please teach them mercy
As YOU have from Your throne!