The following poem has been shared to us by a domestic violence survivor.

TO BE INVISIBLE IS TO BE FREE

Where should I start, how should I begin?
Why do I feel so alone in this world I live in?

 I no longer feel pain, trained myself not to,
My emotional wall, it allows nothing through.

 There is a sadness in my eyes, I feel it is always there,
Hidden well by the smile of disguise that I wear.

The rain is my tears I watch in delight as it pours down,
My sorrow is deep enough to flood this whole town.

Time is my enemy it ticks like a bomb in my head,
Nobody would notice if tomorrow I was dead.

I turn to the mirror in times of anguish and despair,
Only she can comfort me, only she will care.
Loneliness is my one and only true friend,
With him I can find sanctuary, on him I can depend.

Whatever happened to the girl with the big smile,
Who could fall over in a crowd and still be laughing all the while?

Where did she go, and will she ever return?
And will her soul ever be repaired? That is my main concern.

Been through so much, seen all there is to see,
I am scarred for life, in heart, mind and body.

I crave to be invisible, oh how wonderful that would be,
For if I were invisible, I would finally be free.

This world is a prison, which I do not belong in anymore,
It's time to go, time to escape; watch me as I walk out that door.
If you would like to share a poem or story as part of your healing from abuse, please contact us.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Book Review: “The Valkyries by Paulo Coelho”

Image
Recently, while I was reading biographies of some great dreamers, such as   Kahlil Gibran, I pondered the word ‘dream’ and how influential it is in an individual’s life. One night, I asked myself a question, which I want each one of you to think over: what does it mean to dream? Our fantasies may be called a dream. The ambitions towards which we work, our thoughts and visions, these are called dreams. My musings led me to a bookshop where I picked up a book based on the theme of dreams. But this time, the dream is a very unusual one, which demands a long journey and some untypical rituals. “The Valkyries” is written by the bestselling Brazilian novelist, Paulo Coelho. It was published in 1992by Harper Collins. The image is a close up of my hands, surrounded by nature. I am holding and reading “The Valkyries" by Paulo Coelho. In this book, Paulo Coelho, along with his wife Christina Oiticica, embark on a journey to the Mojave Desert to find Paulo’s angel. Pa...
Read more

The Position of Women in the Jehovah’s Witnesses Cult

Image
Jehovah’s Witnesses is an exclusive and restrictive religion whose members claim to be on the path to an enlightening and everlasting life. However, women raised in this cult claim some of their practices represent a serious violation of human rights. For example, there is no gender equality, and women are prevented from advancing in their careers. Lara Kaput, a former Jehovah’s Witness, reveals the position of women in this organisation. Jehovah’s Witnesses is a millenarian evangelical religion founded in 1870 by Charles Taze Russell. The Witnesses believe their cult is a restoration of first-century Christianity and the doctrine is based on the entire Protestant canon of scripture, which is considered the inerrant word of God. Female members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses face multiple restrictions in their life. First, they have the lowest positions in the religious hierarchy and, most of the time, they are excluded from any governing decisions. “I [was] many levels down th...
Read more

The Male Gaze and Social Media

Image
It has always been the ambition of the media to appeal to the masses and invoke desire, whether through films or advertising. For a long time, and even still today, the masses that mattered were men. In feminist theory, the concept of the ‘Male Gaze’ explores the way viewers and consumers engage with visual media in a way that sexualises women in order to empower men. It is specifically targeted at heterosexual men and sees the objectification of women as a fulfillment of male desire. The term was coined in the 1970s by British feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey. She used it to analyse the structure, characters, plotline and overall nature of films of the time. Mulvey’s theory challenged previously accepted ideas and social norms and questioned why audiences and viewers of films and other media were positioned to view women only from the perspective of a straight male. Over the last 40 years, the progression of female representation in films years has increased exponen...
Read more