THE GREEN MILE (MY CREDO)

By Yasen Vedrin

(The Bird Inside You)

(In memory of Michael Clarke Duncan, who played 

John Coffey in the movie "The Green Mile")

At last this prison lock will have an end,

And far beyond my flying soul will stride.

But let the unavoidable descend

While on my own Green Mile I watch and bide.

Having overcome the darkness, chains, and bars –

To be right there where plague destroys the land,

Where God’s own love seems missing from the stars,

And Mercy has no comforting, warm hand.

Does a bright flash of lightning ever die,

That cuts across the heavens with its ray?

Is it not summer for frozen ones nearby,

And pardon for cold eyes along the way?

While angels dance their waltz up in the skies,

And in their beauty, thrills the moment’s light –

John, is it not worthwhile, before it flies,

To walk my own Green Mile into the night?

And to give everything away – to breath and song.

Left with no single thing. Barefoot and bare.

Even immortalized and ghostlike, strong,

Right at the electric chair's final flare.

At last this prison fades and slips away,

And to the everlasting flies the mind.

While down below – in wonder's overflow and play,

The life from my Green Mile is left behind...