Prisons In The Congo

He heard the calling
decided to go to the prisons

in the Congo.

What he expected he didn’t know
filtered through a lifetime of middle class status quo,
American civility, infrastructure,
sanitary conditions, and personal power.

Every person in authority expected
a bribe to open a door or offer a favor

the stench of the public streets
paled by the squalor  
within the prison walls.

Like silver backs in the wild, prisoners assumed
power through strength, subjugating those around them

creating soldiers in their own domain where ideals

of human rights and human dignity were never learned.

He came home a changed man

Decided he would rather work with orphans,

at least they had hope for a better future

contrasted to the oblique despair

found in the prisons of the Congo.