A Wasted Life

He was an unwanted child, born to an unwed,
drug-addicted mother. He grew up ignored,
unloved, and abused. He wished his mother dead
by the time he was five. Inside such anger he stored.

The voices first started talking to him at the age of ten,
whispering, demonic voices straight from the pits of Hell,
suggesting evil things for him to do. First insects, then
cats and dogs he tortured … in secret, so no one would tell.

He lived life as an island – lonely and alone in a sea
of his peers. Shy and shattered, he existed in a world
of his own making, a dark and sinister place to be.
In his mind hatred, hurt, anger, and pain all swirled.

The Devil and his demons fought for control of his mind
in his early twenties. For weeks he would wander among
the fiery pits and tortuous pathways, desperate to find
a way to quiet their voices; too strong the Devil’s tongue --

it would not be stilled. The voices became his master,
leading him to his disaster. He became a serial killer
of young women. Over time, the need returned faster
and faster after a kill to kill again. He put out a feeler

to the police: If he turned himself in, would they get
him psychiatric therapy to stop the voices in his head?
They agreed and arrested him but refused to commit
him to a psychiatric hospital. He was jailed instead.

He pled guilty and asked for the mercy of the court.
The relatives of the girls he murdered demanded his
death. Their deep pain and sorrow lent much support
to their request and burned into that sick mind of his.

The state’s psychiatric report tied the judge’s hands.
He was ruled mentally incompetent and sentenced
to the state psychiatric prison/hospital, with no plans
for his ever being released and no hope of repentance.

However, over the years he responded to therapy well.
The dark caverns of his mind gave way to sunlit fields,
the voice of reason replacing those from the pits of Hell.
He overcame past hardships, releasing feelings concealed.

He discovered he had a high IQ and read voraciously,
becoming an educated man. He found religion and
inner peace. After twenty years, he was conspicuously
out of place in prison. The doctors, down to the last man,

recommended that he be released as no danger to society.
The relatives of his victims rose up in force to protest
his release. “He needs to be executed for sake of propriety.
His death will allow us final closure,” they all did attest.

“Why should he now live a free man when our daughters
were denied their lives by him? His being alive is salt
in the unhealable wounds in our souls. Don’t our daughters
deserve justice?” Their impassioned words went for naught.

The judge set him free to live life as an honorable, law-abiding
member of society. At first he relished his newfound existence,
but then guilt began to weigh heavily upon his heart, providing
him many nights of sleepless torment. Growing in persistence

was his need to atone for his past sins. Finally, he felt he knew
what he must do. His probation officer received this in the mail:
“I’m now an honorable man. I do as an honorable man must do.”
His death pleased many on earth; in Heaven the angels did wail.


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