The Children with No Voice.

 

We are the hidden children who have no voice.

Unable to the decide or make our own choice.

When we speak or shout, we are never heard.

Plain denial always with all our words.

 

We are all wards of the national state.

Placed in a so-called appropriate and safe place.

Where we should be nurtured and cared for.

Where we should feel we are protected safe and secure.

 

The facade looks great from the outdoors.

But it is so different behind the large front door.

They show you what you expect to see.

While we the children endure the harsh reality.

 

There are hundreds of us in many children's homes.

So, in spirit at least we know we are not alone.

In these places safety and protection is very hard to find.

The staff are not what you might call the caring kind.

 

Every waking hour you must be on full alert.

Knowing at some point you are going to get hurt.

The caring staff have a variety of ways to inflict the pain.

We get scared because we do not know when it will end.

 

Some children are broken and accept everything that happens to them.

Inside they feel ashamed and somehow, they are to blame.

I myself must fight, I scream and from the rooftops I shout.

It doesn't do me any good, they just keep moving me about.

 

I refuse to accept what they do to us is right.

I know no one is listening but I am not going to be quiet.

Overtime you get used to living with the abuse.

But it is not something any of us would ever choose.

 

We all hope one day someone will hear our cries.

Then they will properly investigate the reasons why.

Hopefully someone will believe the words that children say.

The state will stop the abuse and make the abusers pay.

 

Until then we will battle every day of our young lives.

Doing the best we can to live a normal life..

Although now no one hears our cries.

We will always do what we do best, Survive.

 

Nataiella (1976_ Childhood Memory