The Deepest Sadness

My soul cries forever with its deepest sadness betrayed by a love that never was a child innocent beaten by angry hands clutched by a World War from a father whose eyes were vacant I still remember the rage, the angry voice, the words "Come here!" My head always bowed in silent withdrawal, eyes that stared at nothing barely walking yet moving forward knowing what was to come... again The hard slap on the back of the head feet leaving the ground hands trying to break the fall feeling numb the sharp sound of the razor strap being lifted from the nail it hung on used like a whip across back and legs while being lifted by one arm the screaming, the crying the terror of it all It still haunts my mind in the quiet dark spaces and always will My eyes well up when I remember it's a memory I keep hidden deep within my damaged soul My own children would never know such things I survived but, at what cost To always wonder what could have been yet happy, for it's a sadness, my children have never known 8/22/17 Contest I'm a Survivor