My Life Mind Map

Poem: When my dad would walk in the door

They say we begin dying as soon as we are born

In my case, I know it is true

I began dying many years ago

I have the scars to prove it too

Being abused as a child

When I was helpless and weak

With no one to tell and nowhere to turn

My situation was dark and bleak

Who could I tell and what would I say?

Living a life terrified to the core

Dreading each and every evening

When my dad would walk in the door

The man who was supposed to protect me

from a world that was scary and cruel

Would, without cause or reason

Beat me until I was black and blue

My mom stepped in only once

To threaten that she would leave

If dad wouldn’t stop hitting me

But that gave me no reprieve

I was too small to defend myself

And even if I tried

My dad would become more angry

There was no place I could hide

My dad would lie about his abuse

He’d say, “Reece just hit his head”

And no one questioned a word

Of anything he said

As I grew older and bigger

My dad stopped the abuse

But even in his later years

He gave me no excuse

I spent my life in denial

I never told a soul

I tried to leave it in the past

Forgetting was my goal

But living through such a childhood

Does not just stay in the past

It comes out with a vengeance

Until you deal with it at long last

It took another crisis

To cause my childhood to rear its head

And words that I had hidden away

Could not be left unsaid

Healing is slow and difficult

Many tears I’ve shed

And memories long forgotten

Are now loud and clear instead

My wife has been a solid support

My children have as well

And knowing that God loves me

Helps me move beyond my earthly hell

At times I am still that little child

Who suffered terrible abuse

It has affected many things in my life

But to let it define me, I refuse

By Reece B. Sherman 2/6/2014