I Know a Man

I work in mental health and hear lots of stories from people who have suffered abuse, when young. This poem is about the abuse suffered by a child that led to psychosis as an adult. Warning: if you’re ‘triggered’or ‘offended’ by the content of the poem. Please don’t read it. I know a man I know a man who knows a man,  Who lives inside his head The man I know has told me that,  This man fills him with dread He scolds him, calls him bastard And he says he should be dead He mocks him daily, takes the piss  And tears his life to shreds This man I know, informs me that, The man inside his head Has lived with him since he was young  And raped him in his bed He told me that, the man he knows, Upstairs would lightly tread To slide between duvet and sheet And wrong him while he slept  The man who lives inside his head,  Was both his parents friend He baby sat when they went out, Abuse this did portend This man I know, then just a child Was too weak to defend; Himself from lust of pedophile Who ‘ed’ him till he bled Pshycotic now, this man I know  He takes olanzapine It quells the voice inside of him But life is not serene  The man who lives inside his head  Though quiet and unseen  Still petrifies this man I know  And haunts his nightly dreams N..L.G