The Persecuted Poem by Benjamin Thornwood

I swear i am innocent
My only crime being born at the wrong time
In the wrong body
In the wrong family
Maybe if i was born rich
To a family who wanted me
If i had a mother who could look at me
Instead of one who can only see my father in my eyes
My mother never wanted a child
But abortions are expensive
And she never really did think about having kids

My mother was raped by my father
Who was raped by his uncle
Who was raped by his grandpa
Who was raped by war and an uncaring world

If none of that was my reality
Maybe then i wouldn't have ended up like this
Forced to work and steal and work again
I steal only when i go hungry
Which is more often than I'd like
And work each moment i breath
But i am innocent
The crime of a starving man is hardly a crime at all
And much worse crimes have been committed
But the crimes of my forefathers are not mine
So why should i be held responsible
For the things I wasn't born for?

I am innocent
Yet this town thinks me the devil in reincarnate
As if my blotchy skin
And crooked teeth
Are proof enough of my evilness

So send me to be hanged
Your apathy for my life serves to tighten the noose around my neck
And each word of dismissal only serves to hoist me high off the ground
Until my feet are swaying and my face as turned blue
My life ripped away from me

Maybe in the next life i might have a father
A mother who can look at me
A town who doesn't hate me
A plate full of food
And a bed too
Maybe in the next life
I won't need to suffer so much

But you do not care
As i am just another ugly face
In a sea of ugly people
Poor and unworthy
My only crime being born at the wrong time
And taking what was held just out of reach
For i am innocent
Yet you hang me anyways