The Fortress
The poem below was something I wrote in 2009, only a year and a half into actively working on recovery. To me it's a statement of the silence and isolation that abuse often impose on it's victims. It's also a statement of the additional affects sexual abuse has on male victims. Our need to appear strong, to appear in control, and the mask of anger and distance boys and men often adopt to hide the fear and anxiety we feel inside. Our society tells us we're not allowed to be hurt, or feel pain, we're not allowed to be victims. So we often seize upon the ideas of independance, power, and anger to keep ourselves safe...... yet sadly in erecting that impressive fortress, we only build a prison that keeps us alone, in pain, and stuck without any idea how to break free and move forward into real living again. The Fortress Quiet and dark upon a perilous crag, sits a lonely fortress. Waves far below crash against it's foundation of stone. ...