'I only steal from the rich <br />Not from the poor, <br />I steal because I am hungry', <br />said the nine year old boy <br />as he was interviewed in jail. <br /> <br />Imprisoned for crimes <br />like stealing food to appease <br />hunger in the tummy, <br />Etsoy and others are caged like animals <br />sharing a pot of rice among <br />11 or 15 in-mates three times a day. <br /> <br />Mixed with adult criminals <br />charged with heinous crimes, <br />here they are in jail without pencil, <br />books, crayons and oil lamp, <br />Here they dread going to sleep, <br />scared of being raped. <br /> <br />And they look at the high fences <br />of concrete walls, <br />invincible by their bare hands <br />Here are fences that blind their eyes <br />from seeing the meeting point <br />between earth and sky. <br /> <br />Here are walls that deny them <br />to gaze at the sea, the boats, <br />the jeepneys, the ships and passers-by, <br />the birds perching on trees <br />and the rice fields at harvest time. <br />Yes, Etsoy and many more <br />Etsoys are in this jail <br />imprisoned, imprisoned <br />behind these high impenetrable walls. <br /> <br />Yes, the small children like Etsoy <br />behind these concrete walls. <br />are only called by numbers <br />or nicknames for who dare <br />to know their precious names? <br /> <br />Behind these high concrete walls <br />they are forgotten, <br />denied of their childhood and life. <br />And this prison <br />is their own <br />university of life.<br /><br />Elizabeth Padillo Olesen<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/small-children-in-prison/
