Because of It - Visitor's Poem

by Becky Gray
(Grants Pass, Oregon, USA)

Why me? Is not what you get to ask.
Just Why.
You don't speak up to tell of your pain.
For who will care?
Once you may have told,
But no one would have believed you,
So, now you just hold it all inside.

It eats at you, it forms who you will become.
When you react ... it is because of it.
When you begin defending yourself ... it is because of it.
When you hate ...
When you love ...
When you cry ...
When you run ... it is because of it.

It is who I am.
I lived through the abuse!
And today I am stronger ... because of it.
Today is mine--tomorrow is too.
I have earned this ... because of it.