Jeremy

Jeremy sits in the sun

And he stares at the stripes on the floor

From the bars on the door

Thinking of rabbits he kept as a child

In a chicken wire cage



He remembers the rage of his father

The night he made his one call

The relative stranger who left him to fall

To the mercy of judges with no shield at all

Now he sits and he stares at the punishing wall



Mary, sweet Mary, it's dark and it's cold

It's all of the stories you've ever been told

Keep the jar on the window, keep the lock on the door

Keep your mind on the man, keep away from the store



Jeremy picks up the crayon he saved

And he writes in the dark and he thinks of the park

And the flowers he gave to the girl with the bells

He remembers her smile, it was gone at the trial



Hear the footsteps of night guards patrolling the halls

There are coughers and talkers who don't sleep at all

Midst the curse words and worse words that someone had scrawled

Now he writes her a poem on the punishing wall



Jeremy gentle, oh, Jeremy kind

As you walk with the thieves and the killers

Believe that our numbers are growing

The change has to come, put resentment aside

Don't turn bitter and die