Death Row
I ask you, who’s not living on Death Row?
The human shields are living on Death Row.
The ones who use them shelter on Death Row.
The ones who gun them down live on Death Row.
I ask you, who is not a human shield
for someone? We protect our own. We shield
ourselves. Our dead we prop up as a shield
against the past. Death Row’s itself a shield.
What we think we’ve got cornered on Death Row
has never been restricted to Death Row.
The pool hall, schoolroom, house of prayer Death Row
has not annexed erects its own Death Row.
My shield, I’m sheltering the same as you,
who’ll use me as your shield till light shines through.