Found My
Voice
The first time
I didn’t
understand
I was much too young to
know
who was the woman on the
floor
she looked like my mother
I can’t be sure
I’ve had so many by age
three
I cried “Mommy please don’t
die”
as she lay upon our
floor
what happened next is
too awful to
tell
The second time
I didn’t know his name
didn’t know what he’d
done
I watched and stood in terror
Not a sound came out of my
mouth
He was as black as night
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
I do remember the shovel
in my
hand
I thought I was burying the
woman
I’m told it was a
man
The fourth
time
I see a field of many bodies
just outside my
school
the alligators
will take care of
them
The fifth
time
It is I who lays upon the
slab
I don’t know why they
laugh
I’m
naked, cold and scared
Somehow I’ve escaped the
blade
but not much
else
I have no voice
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
I
am the daughter of many
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
2001
Updated
2005
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Categories: Releases