Poetry by Hector Flores

Sick Little Boy
By Hector Flores

Sick little boy, he couldn’t open up his eyes but found a way to keep going. They told him he has only 6 weeks left, but found a way to keep going. He can barely get out of his bed, couldn’t even walk, but found a way to keep going. His own mother abandoned him because she couldn’t bear the pain, of seeing her only child on his death bed, but he found a way to keep going. His father divorced his mother, remarried and had more kids and left him in the past, but found a way to keep going. So when he reached out his hand to me, with tears coming down his face, and said, “Would you live life for me?” that day a piece of me died, with that sick little boy. This life I took for granted, the people I disappointed, I ask God, why him and not me and God said, “My son, when you were at your lowest, I saw that you kept going. When you were late for the rent and worked overtime, to make ends meet, you kept going. When society labeled you a villain, you kept going. When nobody came to see you in prison, you kept going. Your closest friends gave you their backs, you kept going. So my son, I tell you. For this sick little boy, I need you to keep going.” So when he reached out his hand to me, with tears coming down his face and said, “Would you live life for me?” I said, “Yes, I will live life for you and I will keep going.”

Take Me Home
By Hector Flores

It hurts when you know you could’ve been a better person in your past, if I would’ve known what I know today. I sit here and ask myself, when will they let me out of this place? I can’t see the sun or the moon but I know they’re there. Everybody in my life left me behind, but I know God is still there. I look at myself in the mirror and say, I am not the same kid that committed a crime, that will take half of my life away. I’m starting to feel like I’m the only one who can see that. Only way I can sleep is by the sound of the rain, no longer have a mother’s touch to wipe my tears away. I close my eyes and thank God for his grace. He is the only one that can look at me and never look away. So I tell you now, all I have is my faith. That’s something they can never take. Solitary confinement, there are only so many steps I can take. One, two, three, brick wall. One, two, three, steel door. Cell so hot I had to sleep on the floor. Time to eat, tray through the slot. I had to eat kinda fast, roach and rats coming out. Do you know how it feels when nobody answers the phone? Do you know how it feels when the chaplain knocks on your door and says your baby brother is gone? Yeah, my family has each other, but I cry on my own. But I tell you this, all I have is my faith. That’s something they can never take. On my knees and I pray, one day God takes me home.