Secret Children via my guest Rick Belden @rickbelden #childabuse #survivors

Rick Belden is am amazing guy, a friend and I have to say a hero of mine. Since we started talking some eighteen months ago he has become an inspiration to me. I owe him a debt of gratitude and thanks for the support he has given me since we first connected.  

Rick Belden is the author of Iron Man Family Outing: Poems about Transition into a More Conscious Manhood. His book is widely used in the United States and internationally by therapists, counselors, and men’s groups as an aid in the exploration of masculine psychology and men’s issues, and as a resource for men who grew up in dysfunctional, abusive, or neglectful family systems. His second book, Scapegoat’s Cross: Poems about Finding and Reclaiming the Lost Man Within, is currently awaiting publication. He lives in Austin, Texas.

More information, including excerpts from Rick’s books, is available on his website and blog. You can also find him on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Secret Children

a desert
a wasteland
cold.

something terrible
thousands and thousands of crude wooden crosses
 the skeleton of a child nailed to each and every one
close your eyes and imagine this
imagine your own child in this place
imagine yourself.

winter winds whip the bones of these children
rib cages frozen in fear decades ago rattle but
 keep their secrets still.

between the bones
 there is ice
inside the ice
 there is fire
within the fire
 there is a secret
the secret that keeps them here.

each child was brought here by an adult
 a trusted friend
brought here
 exploited
 split open
 left here
left to hang in this bitter wind and commune with ghosts.

the child never had a choice.

these children have families that love them dearly
 blind families that will see no evil
 deaf families that will hear no evil
 dumb families that will speak no evil.

families that cannot believe 
 a child's body knows the difference between 
 fantasy and reality
 ... are you sure you're not making this up?

families that cannot believe 
 their beautiful children could have been 
 taken away
 ... but you were such a happy child!
 
families that cannot believe 
 this could ever happen to 
 their own children
 ... not in this family!

families that cannot believe 
 the words sexually abused could ever describe 
 their own children
 ... no secrets in this family, by god!

it is not too late for these children
they await resurrection and salvation
they ache to be healed
 but cannot do it alone
fathers mothers brothers and sisters
lovers spouses families and friends
 they need you.

take them down from these crosses
 trust them
welcome them into your heart
 love them
hold them close and warm their coldest places
 hear them
feel their fire and honor it
 believe them.

one secret at a time
one child at a time 

 believe them.


The secret children by Rick Belden, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.