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