A Poem by David Gordon
I was a child, just a kid
Sent away at 13
From the city I lived
To the city of Edmonton
Far away from family home
Widowed mother, father dead
Entrusted into care
Of holy men in holy robe
To guard me from evil
Guide me closer to God
To lead me as I grow
I was a child, just a kid
Sent away at 13
From the city I lived
To the city of Edmonton
Far away from family home
Widowed mother, father dead
Entrusted into care
Of holy men in holy robe
To guard me from evil
Guide me closer to God
To lead me as I grow
In a residential school
Supposed to help boys
Grow into good men
We were students of God
Led by men of the cloth
Who suffered abuses within
No place to run
Nowhere to hide
No one to tell
A secret, I kept
Now deep inside
Betrayed by those
Who were trusted most
Beyond suspicion
Above reproach
The damage done
Faith shattered & broke
No longer a believer
In heavens or Gods
Fire or brimstone
All innocence lost
Stolen from me
From a Brother of trust
A wolf in sheep's clothing
In his moment of lust
Lust for a child
Unimaginable thoughts
Hands set upon me
By a man of the cloth
Crushed by the image
Of the boy that I was
Stripped naked, alone
By a man I should trust
Never the same
Damaged within
Lost all respect
For a man who would sin
Who took the innocence
Away from a child
Separated from heaven
By a million and one miles
A distant place
To travel from
Carried through decades
Of the things that were done
To boys like me
Who were frozen in time
By men of the cloth
Who committed they're crime
Unable to speak
Unable to tell
By the boys like me
Still tortured inside
By men like them...
Demons from hell
A lifetime of struggle
A lifetime of pain
Of being sexually abused
We've carried that shame
A shame set upon us
With measures of guilt
Self abuse through addictions
From the pain that we felt
With nowhere to run
And nowhere to hide
Boys who were abused
Become broken men
Tormented spirit inside
Wrestling with heartache
Trying to speak and be heard
Breaking down barriers
Still haunted by memories
Wanting truth, our last word
About men of the cloth
Who hid from they're sins
Inside institutions
Of religion & god
Hypocrites of faith...
Behind an illusion
Still keeping they're secrets within
For decades protected
By the followers of gods
At the expense of the children
Who's innocence was lost
Who no one believed
When they cried to be heard
About abuse never spoken
In the world of the church
A world now distant
From what I knew then
To the world I know now
About the men who would sin
The man I became
Is the boy left behind
With his innocence lost
Now frozen in time
No more faith in religion
Father, son, holy ghost
Or the men of the cloth
Who betrayed us the most
Stealing away innocence
With the things that they did
Sexually abusing us...
When we were just kids
Written by
David Robin Gordon
September 8th, 2024
Final Revision for Print
September 16th, 2024
Vancouver, BC Canada
