Domestic Abuse - Another Way

She thought that it was normal, If she made a bad mistake, She surely must be punished, If some liberties she’d take? She thought it happened everywhere, She’d not been singled out, But when he started hiding it, It planted seeds of doubt. The bruises weren’t in places, Anybody could have viewed, When told to say she’d had a fall, She did, to not seem rude. The slaps and punches hurt her, But she got immune to pain, She stopped talking cos what she said, Would get her hurt again. She didn’t think the kids saw it, But feared they must have heard, The loud abusive shouting, And each harsh offensive word. Outside though he was popular, Each party’s life and soul, But not behind those doors when closed, Her life back then he stole. He told her when she could go out, And how to brush her hair, He told her who could be her friends, And clothes that she should wear. “A family man, loves his kids, He has a perfect life” Not one of them at first believed, He could abuse his wife. It took five years to work up nerve, To make the crucial call, The women from the refuge, Who’d then help her through it all. They moved out while he was at work, For weeks she was so scared, But to a counsellor she talked, Her soul she truly bared. She couldn’t face a court case, What if things did go his way? If nobody believed her, Would support just ebb away? He tried to gain some access, To the kids, the final straw, She named him an abuser, And she then turned to the law. The court case took two years, He would not admit his guilt, And wanted to disrupt the life, The kids and her’d now built. It took a lot of effort, And her mental health so frayed, But those who knew her story, Knew it right they hadn’t stayed. Revenge not what she wanted, Though remembered each attack, Just wanted to recover and, A normal life get back. A horrid court case later, And then justice, it was done, And though they found him guilty, Nobody had really won. And so this is a message, If it’s happening to you, It never will be easy, But there’s something you can do. Pick up the phone, you’ll get support, Don’t wait another day, Some words to help make your mind up:- It doesn’t have to be this way.