Welcome Home

Welcome Home, they say with a cold, hard stare

As they strip you down and search you bare

Your personal effects cataloged away

In a storage basket, just another day

In an orange jumpsuit, with cheap black high tops

You shower and are sprayed with pesticide drops

Your head and genitals, now smelling of vinegar

As you fill out a questionnaire, feeling like a prisoner

Vital signs taken, blood is drawn

What will they find from the substances you've drawn?

Your DNA now part of a nationwide database

A part of the system, feeling trapped in this place

Bedding and toiletries, a small comfort for the night

As you're escorted to your pod, your new home in sight

Assigned to a cell or a yoga mat on the floor

In this world of concrete and metal, what are you here for?

Welcome Home, they say with a hollow tone

As you sit and wonder, feeling completely alone

Is this the price to pay for a life of mistakes?

Or can you find redemption behind these cold steel gates?

Welcome Home, a bitter irony in these walls

As you try to find a way to rise above it all

A prison of your own making, or a system's cruel hand

Either way, it's a steep climb to find solid ground

Welcome Home, a place where you're just a number

But deep down, you long to break from this slumber

To find a way to reclaim your life, your soul

And turn this place of confinement into a place that's whole. ("Welcome Home") by Courtney Weaver Jr.