Just one chance and I'll prove you wrong.
This has been my fixation for far too long.
When you locked me up, Your Honor, and threw away the key,
you failed to consider the person I would someday grow to be.

It was nothing personal, just all business, as you sentenced me to all those years, 
now I'm post-traumatic from the horrid sound of cellblock doors slamming in my ears. 
Yet, I'm still hopeful that in the future, the error made will be disclosed, 
But before you summarily erase the next person, here are a few things you should know. 

Some of the men here are doing bids
because of things that happened to them as kids; 
and there are others whose choices wouldn’t have been so bad
given the same opportunities that most folks had.

Yes, life is about choices, that much is true,
and we should all be responsible for what we say and do,
but there are two sides to every story, not just one,
and no person’s as bad as the worst thing they’ve done.

Many are they who’ve determined to take away a person’s hope
who don’t even believe in the very system they pay money to invoke.
It’s astonishing just to fathom how those in power could be so blind, 
never considering or even wondering what a person could become in time. 

When I look into the past to find the man I used to be, 
in the distance I see a stranger swiftly vanishing away from me. 
Without a doubt I’ve been traveling this rocky road for far too long
now armed with higher education I’m determined to finish strong.

I now look forward to the day when alas my circumstances change
because I’ve taken time to learn and earn some extra letters behind my name. 
When ‘ere that day befalls me, I’ll be so happy that I might dance
and I’ll be one who makes a difference if you give me Just One Chance.