Poetry Corner ~ Calling all POETS!

Poetry ROCKS --- What a great way to express yourself! Take a turn...take a chance...come with me...lets have a dance :-)

My submission this week is a very old poem that I wrote many years ago (see date) about a year after I left my husband who had physically abused me for five years....

Final Words and Truth

I feel I have to find a way to vent these bitter feelings and pain,

So, I picked up my pen and hoped I could do it through writing,

I'm sure for some people this will be hard to take and even harder to understand,

Why someone with an attitude and personality like mine would be at the mercy of any man,

I could never figure out why his soul was filled with such hate and anger,

And then to my fearful realization on many nights when I was visited by the dark side of this, my husband, the stranger,

As his attacks upon my flesh became more and more brutal,

I became filled with such frustration,

And yet I still had no idea on how to deal with an d put an end to this bitter devastation,

My body, mind and soul being so betrayed by his iron fists,

And my heart breaking more and more each time he tightened his grip,

I had to get over being so recklessly deceived,

to learn how to stand and walk again so I could fight for me,

So as scared as I was and although I was weak,

I knew I would have to eventually crawl on my knees and then stand on my own two feet,

So, one cold day many years ago,

I decided to have a new devotion,

My heart and body had suffered long enough and became my own healing potion,

I didn't need and didn't want sympathy from my friends,

All I needed was them to be strong for me when my belief started to sway again,

Now I'm stuck to live here with all the guilt and shame,

Only because I refused to share this mans house and name,

He was cruel and bitter and a very lost soul and the harder I tried to make things right, the worse he would get,

What most don't realize is that if I didn't leave when I did,

Instead of facing that I'm divorced, you'd be facing my death,

So sit up there on your high throne and judge me all you want you see,

but this sould had to be once and for all...no strings attached -- just FREE.

Written by Becky Illson-Skinner 

November 4, 1991