Scared animals return home
regardless of whether home is safe

or frightening.

Where is the hand that is
supposed to comfort me?

What became of the once soft voice,
the soothing baritone meant
to promise safety

and protection?

The monsters under the bed
will say nothing.

The devils in my closet
feign ignorance.

Father fights his own demons,
and it seems they win
far more often
than they lose.

Scared animals return home.

When the world becomes
too loud.

When the darkness creeps
too close.

When the monsters run
too fast.

When the Devil’s eyes
burn bright.

Scared animals return home.

When the snakes surround us.

When spiders’ teeth gleam.

Scared animals return home.

Even when home
is where the harm is.

*********************

Note: This poem was based on a quote from “The Body Keeps the Score”, a seminal book on trauma and human behavior by Dutch psychiatrist Bessel Van der Kolk.

You can learn more about his book by clicking here.

You can learn more about the Learned Helplessness experiments by clicking here.

neverstaybroken does not condone the mistreatment of animals for any reason.