WUNRN
Poem by Stella Funk Butler
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”