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SOS: Incarcerated Voices, “The Beauty In Me”

The Beauty in Me
Based on text by text by WM. Peeples, music by Iván Rodriguez

Please look at me, see past my scars
To the beauty in me.
Don’t focus on the wrongs I’ve done
That’ll increase your scorn,
Instead feel the warmth of my heart
And the light that adorns. When I
Walked in darkness my pain was all I had,
Fear, abuse and neglect drove me mad.
How can you love others when you’ve been taught
To hate yourself?
All your hopes and dreams for a brighter future
Relegated to life’s bottom shelf.

I had to be sentenced to die to find purpose to live,
On death row I discovered what I was put on Earth to give.
The gift of unconditional love that I never received, and an abundance
Of wisdom for which I’ve bled and grieved.
If you can suspend judgment and with compassion see, only then can you behold
The beauty in me.

I dedicate this poem to my beloved sister Kim who, despite my worst deeds always saw beauty in me.