Welcome to Wednesday
Poem 19 in the 30 poems in 30 days challenge.

Today a complete change of direction.
A heart rending poem from Anne Rhodes about the effects
of domestic violence.

BEFORE I WAS BEATEN       Anne Rhodes © April 2017

Before I was beaten nobody said

How often I’d feel much better off dead.

Don’t get me wrong, I know that’s just not right

It’s more that I hadn’t the strength left to fight.

That was me many years ago now

I escaped from there, but I don’t know how.

I screwed up my courage and fled one day

Never to meet him again I would pray.

A scene on TV, or a spoken word -

An instant flashback meant I often heard

The sound of my screams, felt the pain of blows,

In memory before me those scenes arose.

Life is better now, I’m stronger I think,

Friendship and love are today my link

With calmness and happiness I am at peace,

I know I can make all the memories cease.

It took ages for depression to go.

I’m assured by others who’re in the know

That life can be turned completely round

That I’ll always feel safe on solid ground.

Panics and poor sleep are now in the past.

I’ve found friends I can trust and peace at last.

There’s always someone whose shoulder is there

If I find that life is too hard to bear.

So to all these friends I say thanks so much

Please, please whatever you do, stay in touch.

My heart is healed, and I think also my trust.

My past is gone and all that is now dust.

  Facts About Domestic Abuse   

  Women are killed every week in England and Wales by a current or former partner 

• 1 in 4 women in England and Wales will experience domestic violence in their lifetimes and 8% will suffer domestic violence in any given year
• 
  
• Globally, 1 in 3 women will experience violence at the hands of a male partner 
• 
  
• Domestic violence has a higher rate of repeat victimisation than any other crime 
• 
  
• Every minute police in the UK receive a domestic assistance call – yet only 35% of domestic violence incidents are reported to the police 
• 
  
• The 2001/02 British Crime Survey (BCS) found that there were an estimated 635,000 incidents of domestic violence in England and Wales. 81% of the victims were women and 19% were men. Domestic violence incidents also made up nearly 22% of all violent incidents reported by participants in the BCS.
• 
  
• On average, a woman is assaulted 35 times before her first call to the police

  30% of domestic violence either starts or will intensify during pregnancy

• In November 2009, Sylvia Walby of the University of Leeds estimated the total costs of domestic violence to be £15.7 billion a year.  This is broken down as follows:
• The costs to services (Criminal Justice System, health, social services, housing, civil legal) amount to £3.8 billion per year
• The loss to the economy – where women take time off work due to injuries – is £1.9 billion per year
• Domestic violence also leads to pain and suffering that is not counted in the cost of services.  The human and emotional costs of domestic violence amount to almost £10 billion per year

  

Poetry Challenge

NaPoWriMo, or National Poetry Writing Month, is an annual project in which participating poets attempt to write a poem a day for the month of April.

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