A young girl’s story

This little girl’s story
is no real glory
I have mentioned this once before
but I thought I’d share with you once more

When I was 7
I was told that Peoples Temple was heaven
and over time
Jim Jones controlled my mind

I cannot begin to explain
the turmoil and unbearable pain
I would have taken the cyanide
and I would’ve been part of the mass suicide

On November eighteen
I could not believe what I had seen
I was only sixteen
what I do recall
that I did not believe anything at all

I was scheduled to go by plane
but my grandmother had to remain
delay with legal documents made things slow
at that time, I was unable to go

When it was reported that 300 were dead
I believed what Jim Jones always had said
that he would raise ‘em all from the dead
and this belief remained for months in my head

I waited and waited for the dead to rise
but this never happened, still I was not surprised
then I learned that Jim Jones was dead
he had been shot by a single gun shot to the head

Now the press was telling me
he was cremated and his ashes thrown to the sea
I did not believe and I needed to see
this could not be and this could not happen to me

He turned water into wine
he could heal the blind
he could heal the sick
and I believed this was real and not any tricks

all he had to say
is “drop dead” and there you lay
then he spoke and you awoke
this was no joke

through meditation
he made many revelation
he knew what to say
and more people would joined that day

cancer he could heal
I believed this to be real
he could make the paralyzed walk
and the mute talk

My beliefs were so very strong
in my eyes, Jim Jones could do no wrong
was everything he said really a lie
he sent people to Guyana only to die
or was this a story told by the FBI

In my mind
Jim Jones was kind
I did not know how to react
when I was told that Jim Jones was a maniac

The Jim Jones I had known
was of peace and love and this he had shown
Guyana was suppose to be a socialist community
were there would be complete equality

it was impossible to conceive
that so many Jim Jones had deceived
what I did not realize
that my faith would have led to my demise

He told me that I would go to a promise land
where there’s peace for every child, woman,and man
he promised me that I would be free
from racism and injustice in this society

There were so many rainbow faces
I only knew the human race
he preached integration
and denounced segregation

people said that I was bless that I escaped
but this is truly a mistake
the day of the mass suicide
I also died

but that chapter in my life
makes my heart feel it’s been pierced with a knife
I have now come to realize
that most of what I believed were simply lies

It was so very difficult for me to see
the Jim Jones who had been presented to me
Indeed, I had been traumatized
this experience had been seen from a child’s eyes

to say that this was all a game
it is a shock to me and it is a shame
I was that child who believed
and that child who had been deceived

I am that little girl
indeed, destroyed was my world

this little girl’s story
is no real glory

(Bunny Jackson is a Temple survivor who lives in Northern California.)