Member Poem

She lives in her grubby pyjamas that fall
Off her body so wasted and frail
There’s no-one she needs to dress up for at all
The dark of the house turns her pale

Two slices of toast, all she has for a meal
She spends all her days feeling ill
The scars on her wrists will eventually heal;
The scars in her thoughts never will

She shuffles back up to her room, locks the door
Although she knows no-one’s around
But forces of habit are hard to ignore
And by such obsessions she’s bound

She peers through the curtains, eyes blinded by light
She blinks then turns her head away
She doesn’t feel safe when she’s sat in plain sight
She knows he'll come looking one day

He'd been only smiles when her parents were there
But once they were gone he would strike
A cousin but much more than blood did they share
He touched her however he liked

She never once told him she liked what he did
She never once told him to go
So frightened of him, she would do as he bid
So frightened to let someone know

Becoming a woman made everything worse
Each weekend was always the same
She knew that no-one would believe in her curse
She suffered alone when he came

She told all her teachers she fell down the stairs
Her clumsiness was widely known
Her classmates all bullied and ganged up on her
She spent all her schooldays alone

Her cousin was sent down for mugging and theft
Already the damage was done
The years of torment and abuse that he'd left
Had killed her desire for fun

She doesn't let anyone come close enough
To give her the love she deserves
She only dates boyfriends who treat her too rough
Then leave when she gets on their nerves

She goes back to bed and holds on to her knees
She hugs herself tightly to weep
Just one of a million we don't hear the pleas
But instead we just blissfully sleep

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(originally posted on my website)