Mandela's Shadow Poem by David McLansky

Prisoner and Guard,
Alike we walk the yard
In our prison clothes
Oh the life that we have chose.

Neither one at liberty,
Neither one of us is free;
One punished for his 'heinous' crime;
One paid to waste his youth and time.

Years pass and we both age,
We live our lives in a cage;
I killed so all men might be free;
And he chains himself to me!

Yet prison gives us education
It teaches us to save the nation
We are gentlemen in crime
And we forgive each other as we bide our time