Violence Poem by Carolyn Brunelle

A violence changed her.
A child's innocent retreat
to forest beauty
never heard the calls
or was aware of time.
Blind fury met her
with a terror
she had never known when
Daddy disappeared that day too;
morphed into raging bull.
A brutal beating,
became her new reality
one that ached in a broken heart
through decades.
Its pain and humiliation
dissolved trust and innocence
took her joy and playfulness
left wounds deeper than
the ones she was able to hide;
left scars that
lasted a lifetime in the soul.