We sipped our tea
As he sat next to me
Cross-legged on the floor
And he spoke of his youth,
Thrown to the wolves,
As student of the hardship of war.
A war that shaped him and molded him to,
A grateful and God-fearing man
The struggle of a nation burned in his eyes
As he relived his war torn homeland.

Accused and abused he was stolen away,
No justice exists with no law.
He was thrown into prison
But they couldn't cage his faith in freedom
It seemed like endless days and morningless nights,
His family so blind with concern
For the day they would see his return.

The guards laughing in the black of the night as they kicked him and beat him raw,
And the blood and the dirt and the grime of the world and the dark side of man that he saw.
And in the minutes and hours and years that dripped by,
graying away his youth,
As he spent his hours in quiet reminisce of the truth.

He wiped tears from his cheek with the smile on his face,
Brushed the hair back from his daughter's eyes,
His little girl climbed up on to his knees
His words became clear, "After hardship will always come ease".