She was a young girl

Without a care in the world

She loved to sing and dance

And she wanted to be happy

 

She was six when he started

To torment her with his words

She was seven when he started

To torment her with his fists.

 

She was nine when

The best person she’d ever known

Shattered the world with a bang of a gun

The silence so deafening in her wake

 

She was ten when she tried to save her sister

From the pain that she endured

While her innocence was taken

By one so close to home

 

When she stopped eating so much

And eventually didn’t eat at all

When she held a knife to her arm

And found the red

 

When she knew that words hurt

And the knife could take that away

When she learned that she was alone

She didn’t matter anyway

 

She was eleven when she

Questioned her own sexuality

Sleeping with her best girl friend

Trying to find herself.

 

She was twelve when she first

Took a pull from a bottle of whisky

Started dating the boy that hit her too

A fucked up world, indeed.

 

She was thirteen when she was a mom of four

Up three times a night,

Teaching to read, cooking, cleaning,

Loving like a mother would.

 

She was fourteen when she tried to die

Three times, twice to sleep forever

And once to stain

The tub in red

 

When she met someone

Who called her beautiful

And seemed to really mean it

When she fell in love

 

She was fifteen when she stopped self harm

And let that boy into her life

When she finally accepted who she was

And started to eat again

 

She is now a young woman

Who misses her childhood

But would take it all again

To make sure no one ever would

 

And she still battles that eating disorder

All the days of her life

Every time she eats a meal

She celebrates inside

 

She still fights the urge to cut

It’s strong, to this day.

But still she loves the boy

Who saved her from her fate.