Time Is an Ocean

I speak to you in Jesus's name

As Jesus speaks through me

The evil we do can't be blamed upon our destiny

I have walked through the valley of death-row to the shore

I have stumbled through silvery water to my savior, my Salvador!

It took me four years to learn

I was in prison not in church

And two more to begin the book of my soul's search

Time is an ocean of endless tears

A wild boy from the streets of El Barrio

An orphan from the hills of Mayaguez

And when I wrote my story

The words flew from the page

And my soul in solitary

Escaped its iron cage

Time is an ocean of endless tears

Mama, I got your letter today

The next time that you write I'll be transferred far away

I'm leaving Greenhaven's towers of stone

Where the Latin population will soon be minus one

Time is an ocean of endless tears

I know how hard it's been for you these many years

You say the Aguinaldo makes you dream of home

Where once we strolled the beach at El Malecon

Go back don't you worry, I am your grown-up son

The politics of prison are a mirror of the street

The poor endure oppression

The police control the state

Correctional facility

That's what they call this place

But look around and you will see

The politics of race

A forest and a prison

Where the snow and guards are white

If you want to keep your sanity

You'll teach yourself to write

You were a child of sixteen

With a twelve-year-old mind

You came here numb and battered

By the streets I left behind

I'll take the evil in me

And turn it into good

Though all your institutions

Never thought I could

So now I'll turn to say goodbye

I'll keep your image in my eye

I turn around to say goodbye

I'll keep your image with me till the day I die

Time is an ocean of endless tears