We Remember Your Childhood Well Poem by Carol Ann Duffy

We Remember Your Childhood Well

Rating: 4.4


Nobody hurt you. Nobody turned off the light and argued
with somebody else all night. The bad man on the moors
was only a movie you saw. Nobody locked the door.

Your questions were answered fully. No. That didn't occur.
You couldn't sing anyway, cared less. The moment's a blur, a Film Fun
laughing itself to death in the coal fire. Anyone's guess.

Nobody forced you. You wanted to go that day. Begged. You chose
the dress. Here are the pictures, look at you. Look at us all,
smiling and waving, younger. The whole thing is inside your head.

What you recall are impressions; we have the facts. We called the tune.
The secret police of your childhood were older and wiser than you, bigger
than you. Call back the sound of their voices. Boom. Boom. Boom.

Nobody sent you away. That was an extra holiday, with people
you seemed to like. They were firm, there was nothing to fear.
There was none but yourself to blame if it ended in tears.

What does it matter now? No, no, nobody left the skidmarks of sin
on your soul and laid you wide open for Hell. You were loved.
Always. We did what was best. We remember your childhood well.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Bill Wright 03 September 2016

This is very dark. In the 1960s and 1970s child abuse was regularly swept under the carpet with children simply not being believed.

6 0 Reply
Susan Williams 26 October 2015

Intriguing. Did the parents know best what had happened in her childhood?

22 1 Reply
Not Susan Williams 02 February 2022

idk Susan, best of luck getting an actual answer though.

1 0
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Carol Ann Duffy

Carol Ann Duffy

Glasgow / Scotland
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