The Victim Was Me

The Victim Was Me

Burdened by shame and guilt --
How could I overcome?
I felt, at such a naive age,
I couldn't tell my mom.

Thrice abused, but even then,
I knew that it was wrong.
Had I believed my innocence,
The truth would soon be known.

Twenty years I felt that guilt,
Lived with so much shame.
Before I learned the guilty one
And knew the victim's name.

Wasted time I lived with secrets,
Too ashamed to tell.
Keeping all my pain inside,
A special kind of hell.

I finally shared the truth,
And she knew what to do.
She made me write it down--
acknowledge who was who.

No longer ashamed of what he did,
I refuse to feel at fault.
I freely tell my story so that
child abuse can halt.

Pat Nelson
June 24, 2008

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