Do you know what it's like to live with fear?
To be afraid every day of your life,
and to know
you can't escape from the the source of your fear?

Do you know what it's like to struggle for acceptance,
and to find only
criticism and condemnation instead?

Do you know what it's like to wake in the morning
and know that nothing you do today will be right?

Do you know what it's like to wake in the morning
and KNOW
that today you will be hit.
To know that if today is a "good" day,
you'll only get a couple of slaps across the face,
and if it's a bad day,
you could find
a hand around your neck,
shutting off your windpipe until you pass out.

Do you know what it's like to hear words such as
"you're useless", "you're stupid", "no-one will ever love you",
and to hear these words so often you believe them?

Do you know what it's like to feel....
as if every breath you draw
is a waste of oxygen.
To feel as if suicide is the only option,
but be too afraid to do it.
Do you know what it feels like
to think you are so useless you can't even kill yourself?

Do you know what it is like to reach for help,
only to find none,
and then find things are actually worse
because the one causing your pain
now holds another grudge against you?

" 7 "