I cut a strange shadow
As if lit by candles
Deep in the dark corner
Where she sits me

Coughing offense
Three minute I must repent
Coughing violently
As if to cleanse some sin
Because she does not
Believe my phlegm

Little boy liar
Or at least she assumes
As she locks me in my room
Beneath a cold quiet moon
Do not come out

So I **** on the carpet
Puke green thing
Will be smelling
Very unclean

I’m always thirsty
I’m always lonely
Staring at the kids playing
While I am daydreaming
Of finding a home to be free in

I cannot say which I preferred
The brash beatings
Accompanied by my screaming
That soothed her seething rages
Almost completely
At least for that day
Or the weeks and months
Locked away
Despairing

To swallow once I swallowed twice
I jumped at a moments notice
One tap caused twitches
One loud yell
Caused more flinching

Someone once told me
They knew about the barbarity
Not exactly in those words
But years down the line
I wonder if at any time
They felt bad for letting me
Live like that