This moving poem was submitted by a writer who has found inspiration and creativity through the medium of poetry.

We are privileged to be allowed to share in this creative insight.

You can choose to just be you

A horrid word can last a lifetime

A hit can leave a bruise 

Abuse can leave many scars

But when ur grown u get to choose

You can choose to live in torment

Consumed entirely by fear

Or you can choose to live a new life

With those you hold most dear

I can't say that's it's easy

I know it's very hard

This can seem so very lonely

When you're the one that's scarred

Whether you're in a city

Or in a paradise of blue

Once you are the grown up

You can choose to just be you

Like the footprints you leave on land

The past will never go away

But you choose where you leave them

You get to make it your own way

I have no map of where I'm going 

And I don't know when I'll be there

But I am on a journey

And I have learnt how to beware

I have met so many people 

That have helped me to restore 

My faith in many humans 

Even tho my hearts still sore

Like amphibians who adapt

We must learn how to go on

To show our many abusers 

They are wrong and we are strong

It many take many hours

Days, weeks, months and even years

But I will carry on despite

The constant flow of many tears

I know I'm not the first one

God knows I'm not the last 

Just as long as I get there

It doesn't matter how fast

Life is what we make it

Despite the start we get

I have started on my journey

Thanks to those whom I have met

I am inspired by each mammal

And each and every flower

Nature helps me notice beauty

In each and every hour

Yes I've seen the cruelty 

And the dark side of the sun

But Mother Nature shows me

That there's a battle to be won

Like a lost cub in the wild

I have made it on my own

With thanks to Mother Nature

Whom without I wouldn't have grown

I am thankful for the sunrise 

On each and every day 

Which helps to light a new path

And see me on my way 

I've said I don't know where I'm going

And I don't know when that'll be 

But one thing is for certain 

When I arrive, I’ll arrive as me

Author’s name withheld