This song is a tribute to Nobel prize winning author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, whose life and survival of a Siberian Gulag (prison camp) “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” helped bring down the communist regime. This song is specifically about life and work in “The First Circle”, and about love between the protagonist and a patient in “Cancer Ward”.

Prison Anthem
In Honor of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, author of
“One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”
by Papa Hardy.

When you live in a prison
You know the freedom of your smile
You know the distance from your friends all the while
No need to worry
We won’t desert you
We left our fears behind
The walls around us
Will just protect you and me
from ‘us’ outside

When you work in a prison
The work you do must be your own
The mind you have with all your friends will be your home
The clothes we’re wearing
Are always tearing
Like the loves that we left behind
The lives we’re living
Are only giving us the pain
that we felt outside

When you love in a prison
It’s real as eyes if you can see
You can love through all the difference of you and me
It isn’t oceans
It isn’t mountains
It’s only love between
It’s close as God is
To all the people
we love and we left outside