Childhood's End Poem by Amos Greig

I was 7 and a half
When I lost my
Childhood.

I had many friends
My closest was called Peter.

Your actions turned him
Against me, my family
My religion.

Home became a prison
School a place of fear.

You who embraced anger
Stoked the fires of Hatred
Used violence to give yourself a voice.

I was 7 and a half
your deaths stole my childhood
My home, my friends.

Only now at 35 can I look back
And realize that was the beginning
Of all my later emotional problems.

I still bear the emotional scars wounds that run deep.
I no longer hate you for what you took from me.
And yet, I Still Wake In The Dark Afraid
Because of you.