Found My
Voice
I didn’t
understand
I was much too young to
know
who was the woman on the
floor
she looked like my mother
I’ve had so many by age
three
as she lay upon our
floor
what happened next is
too awful to
tell
The second time
didn’t know what he’d
done
and is no
more
The third time
I am told I helped bury
him
I’m only six
hardly strong
enough
to be of
help
in my
hand
I’m told it was a
man
The fourth
time
just outside my
school
the alligators
will take care of
them
The fifth
time
I don’t know why they
laugh
I’m
naked, cold and scared
but not much
else
as I roll off the cement
grave
into the woods I
run
The sixth
time
I have many sexual adult
violators
too numerous to
count
it’s a community
thing
The seventh
time
my own
birthmother
defiles
me
then frightens
me
with a
knife
Today
by birth, step, foster and
adoption
I feel blessed to be loved by so
many
Today I’ve found my
voice
I will not
rest
Until those
who take another’s life
is put to
rest
Like so many
others
I’ve become
resilient
God has
restored
that which was
stolen
“No more” I say “no
more,
will another human take a
life
as long as I have
breath”
stella f
butler
Found My
Voice
Updated