DAMAGE DONE

Those days are still around
Right there in the eyes
Small pieces of scripture
Spiritual desperation
Down all those long years gone
Gleaming
Needing
Seething
Spitting teeth and grieving
And a child still cries
In all the bleakest nights
Within the shell of an adult
Still cries, still cries
Still prays for someone kind
To stop the shaking
And wipe away the tears
To fill the belly
To count the injuries
And fill in the forms
But nothing ever -
Somehow never -
Helps

                By Phil Roberts
For Teresa....and the many thousands like her.

Reviews

[ThePaperPrincess]

Powerful, how sad it is that those who are helpless to defend themselves never get the help that they truly need. It's a broken system. I'm so sorry to hear what happened to your friend. Your writing is full of emotion. Beautiful in the saddest way possible.

[Phil Roberts]

Thank you very much! It's a poem that means a lot to me and a subject that I feel strongly about. I could have made it much stronger but it would be difficult to read.

[Érenn]

There's deep strong,well intended emotions here. I believe it is something to with women. A cry for help, but to no avail. A dedication as you have rightly mentioned in the end. It's a moving piece and I could feel my composure going haywire as I read this one.

[Phil Roberts]

Thank you :) actually, it's about a friend of mine who was abused in every way possible as a child by her father, as were all her siblings. It was about the permanent damage that was done.

[Érenn]

aah yeah one of the images i had perceived was child abuse, but i really didn't want to think of something that horrible, but i know where there is a bed roses there's also the presence of thorns

[Phil Roberts]

well, my attitude is, if it's part of life it should be written about.....with sympathy and empathy. I've known teresa and her story since she was 16 and I know her siblings too. I have seen their desperate attempts to lead normal lives with the damage inside them. Her oldest sister is a genuine case of multiple personalities caused by the abuse. She is now in her 60s and still suffering. It needed to be written about. I obviously avoided the detailed horror because it would have been unreadable.