He did five years because he would not give up the other men,
He sat there in the hearing room and said it once and then,
He repeated it again with different words but same address,
That he was not the kind who talks to relieve the press.
The prisoner of principle in the visiting room chair,
He could walk out of this building but he does not dare,
Betray the code that cost him more than what was fair,
The prisoner of principle is going to stay right there.
They offered him the deal three separate times with different bows,
Each time the deal got better and each time he said: no, so,
I will serve the sentence and I will walk out clean,
And I will be the man I was when I walked in between.
He did the five and walked back to the neighborhood straight,
Every man who knew him understood the weight,
The prisoner of principle is not always wise or right,
But he is the kind of man who sleeps well in the night.