A poem about child abuse by David Tombale: Years

To be clear this poem about child abuse does not address my own personal experiences. I have never had a hand laid on me by anyone in my family instead it touches on things I've learnt from friends and classmates over the years. With these new influx of interest in gender violence there should at least be one voice still speaking up for helpless children everywhere.
Years


It took me years to realize
That there was nowhere where
I could hide, there were not rooms
Enough, not enough closets to
Hide my tiny frame in, their
Shouts would find me every time
And his hand around my slender
Wrist dug in deeply, too many
Times when I thought to run but
I was so afraid, afraid of starving,
Afraid of street corners where
People died,

It took me years to realize
How to stay silent, how to take
My beatings, I was ten when I
First hated, fifteen when I
Contemplated murder but it never
Happened, fear once more
Wrapped around my hand so
I'd hide inside my school until
It grew so dark that it made me
Think that I could get lost but I came
Back again to that windswept house,

It took me years to realize
That he was sick, his heart the
First of us to turn, he couldn't
Breathe that Sunday morn,
Perhaps some dream stole the last
Of that hateful man, all I know is that
It's getting better now, I turned
Eighteen and there are no bruises
On my back, perhaps there is no
Love but I know there are no bruises
And that's all I think I want tonight.