Prisoner In A Cage

I'm just a prisoner in a cage
I have no name, I have no age
The guards, they didn't know what I've done
All they know is I'm a captured one

They captured me in '65
And I guess it's lucky I'm still alive
For I've tried to escape three times in all
And I'd go the fourth . . . but I'd have to crawl

They buried me once for seven days
(standing up to his neck)
And that was supposed to mend my ways
But I still have that urge to try, you see
But now I don't have the legs to carry me

My feet are in stocks, my neck's tied to a pole
What food I get is shoved in through a hole
At night I lie down and my hands are tied
And the rope is stretched to a post outside

Now I've been sick and almost died
And I've had to crawl to get outside
I wasn't helped in any way at all
In fact, I was beaten while held against a wall

But I'll leave here alive, I know that now
But I don't know when and I don't know how
And I'll see my family once again
But I don't know where and I don't know when. . . .

By Ernest C. Brace

Ernie was the longest held civilian POW during the
Vietnam War. He wrote in this in his head while captive
in a cage in the jungle.
It is from his book "A Code To Keep."