INCUBATED by Jeff Burt

I spent time in prison
For crimes I did commit
And learned to value
Duration, sitting still,
Brisket, anything roasted,
Rusk bread baked
Not once but twice,
Love wrapped in foils
Of forgiveness imbedded
In the coals of resentment,
Things incubated,
Simmered, not boiled,
Water, poison, sweated out,
Dross drained,
Life refined,
Life, I came to value
A second chance at life.