Death Watch Speaks

Greetings,

 

My name is Stephen Moody, I've been here on the death row in Texas for the past 16 years.I have an execution date of September 16th,2009 with no further appeals pending....

 

I want to take a moment to thank all those people in Europe and all over the World, who support

"Alive" in their fight against the death penalty. I must tell you that it has been a great source of inspiration for me to see and feel the humanity and love of the European people. It gives me such hope and my strength and faith have been up lifted for I have had the good fortune to have had many great friendships over these past few or I should say many years...

 

But now please give me the chance to tell each of you something that happened to me while I've been here at the Unit of Polunsky. It was the time of our arrival from the old death row on Ellis and about 14 of us death row prisoners decided to have a non violent protest of our conditions and a hunger strike. It was to last 21 days or 3 weeks with our drinking only water and taking no solid food.

 

About along the 14th day of this hunger strike I was there resting on my bed when a feeling of great peace came over me, like nothing I had ever felt in my life and as I lay there with this peace upon me, a feeling of joy filled my heart that I find hard to describe with words and a weight was lifted off my soul and a feeling of compassion for all the struggling and suffering of the world was upon me that made me want to weep. I couldn't believe this was happening to me and I knew within my heart how special it was. It changed my life. I know I would never again be so fast to judge or condemn others. I felt the suffering and knew we were all lost and hurting and in turn hurting each other our judgments of one another...

 

This experience caused me to reread all that Jesus said in the bible. When I read that he wept, I could really finally understand how he seen each of us lost, suffering and hurting souls it caused me to seek truth and I found it in Jesus Christ who is alive in my heart, and I share this experience that I know God allowed me to have with each of you…

 

 

With the Love of Jesus

 

Stephen Moody

 

 

 

Here is a poem I wrote just after my experience with the hunger strike..

 

 

Compassion

 

Allow compassion to rule your heart

though it be hard as tempered steel

For in there lies the saving grace

to leave all wounds healed

As we walk this revolving rock
held prisoner to fate’s ticking clock

What would cause you and I to "STOP"

and reach to stir the ashes that burned so long ago

To start an inner fire that would illuminate the soul

release the beast of vengeance

Feeling the freedom that would bring
and know the love of god

For we are all spiritual beings

we must not let time slip away

As if we've never lived

for we become immortalized

With the goodness that we give…

 

Written by,

Stephen Moody # 999026

Texas D/R  

                                

 

The Twilight Zone

 

Come be witness to the madness

as society collects its debt

To prove killing wrong

an execution has been set

In this the land of Liberty, justice for one and all

innocence or guilt become only words

In a game of verbal volleyball

As media vultures gather round

To watch as he eats his last

they talk of shady characters

Out of scripts from his past

and wait his death on display

Just beyond the plexiglass

A heart beat

Final rhythm

And the state has made its kill

the blindfolded eyes of justice

Once again bent to its will

But they hide the executioner

his face is never seen

to stay an unknown killer

seems to render his hands clean

The confused, the lost, the unlucky

the rebel quiet and still

These live on within a Twilight Zone

between first and the last appeal…

 

Written by,

Stephen Moody # 999026

Texas D/R

 

 

Signs of the times

 

Set the Sun

Romance the moon

Shadows echo through windowed tomb

whispered memories from the past

Anguished dreams like trumped blasts

things once held never to last

Faces, places, beginning no end

Yearning, burning, hunger within

sorrow filled reflections

depth of the soul

Starkly numbered barren and cold

the dead, the dying young and old

Freedom bought freedom sold

Gun towers surround steel bars confine

A numb civilization all signs of the time...

 

Written by,

Stephen Moody # 999026

Texas D/R

 

 

Touch the Morning

 

Take the time to touch the morning

feel the sun upon your face

And as the day turns to evening

watch the stars fall into place

Measure the moon as it hangs above you

let its tranquility fill your heart

for the world is God's canvas

and you his living work of art

Everybody holds a place

as the fill it up with life

Some will travel under heavy burden

others walk will be light

Just remember "LIFE THE MYSTERY"

man will never unravel all

but if you listen, really listen

you will hear the "MASTERS CALL"

Let not the Journey overwhelm you

or set yourself too fast a pace

Take the time to touch the morning

feel the sun upon your face...

 

Written by,

Stephen Moody # 999026

Texas D/R