Viewing page 40 of 100

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

FREEDOMWAYS
THIRD QUARTER 1966

ELLSWORTH R. JOHNSON

ALCATRAZ

Six feet of chambered stone
The nation gives us for a home,
Ten feet from top to floor
A barred-in gate serves as a door.

A special jail for special men
That someone hopes won't rise again,
Yet be man low or be he great
No can controls a strong man's fate.

So here we sit and watch them pass
The weak and strong of Alcatraz;
The weak will perish ere they start
But the strong will play a greater part.

What prompted germ of thought in man
To etch, blueprint and build this plan?
This special jail for special men;
From a bureaucratic dreamer's pen.

Fools in high places should not dwell
For they make life a living hell,
And leave behind them when they pass
A monument like Alcatraz.

MY WIFE AT BELMONT PARK

I took my wife to Belmont Park
I thought it would be quite a lark
I said, "We'll watch the horses run
I know that you'll have lots of fun."

230