The Death Row Letter

The Death Row Letter
by Tom Flannery copyright 2008

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We welcome your comments.

Hey mister can you tell me what it feels like
to kill and kill and to kill again
for a few bucks or some clothes to wear
or just to get out of the rain
I see they've set your execution day
it'd be a shame to see it pass
without you sending what you know along
so that the learnin' it might last

I read somewhere it'd be the chair
not that poison running through the veins
just the wet sponge on top of your head
and a jolt sent through the brain
I know witnesses are allowed to sit
on the other side of the glass
I wonder if you'd save a spot for me
I hope it's not too much to ask

Read books and seen movies on guys like you
but I doubt them Hollywood boys get it right
with stockholders and tickets to sell
and everything forced black and white
just another guy with a tripped wire
out to settle an old old score
from the strap laid across his back
many many many years before

But what if it ain't that way with you
what if you look like me
wandering the leafy neighborhoods
the way things are supposed to be
I hope this letter finds you well
and you have time to drop me a line
I'm as mixed up as a boy can be
and I don't think I've got that much time