I spent my twenty-first in Long Bay Penitentiary Each day in the front yards We paced up and down At night I read novels And the poetry of Percy Shelley Sometimes an education officer Would turn up and ask What are you going to do with your future? I’d tell him I wanted to be a poet He would shake his head And comment I was being insolent After weeks I convinced him We wanted to start a debating team There were plenty of crims Who would join up It took a month to convince the Governor Finally the authorities agreed We could form a debating society Things went well and we attended library And researched our topics Then came the day a team From the outer agreed to come inside And conduct a debate with us However there was a condition The Governor would chose the topic Eventually the prison librarian Ceremoniously handed us the Governor’s note (it was the summer of 1964) our topic
“Is the Sydney Opera House Really Necessary?”
