His Side

 

 

 

 

The father would lead the boy to a farm

To observe the roosters as they do harm

 

The stupefied roosters, with metal spurs so sharp

Battled each other, as grown men sounded a harp

 

His father and allies would devour much beer

For close of the day stirred new tastes of fear

 

The lad and his friend would venture out of sight

To escape the fathers demand for a desired fight

 

Two children who couldn’t envision the reason

For result of inebriant had changed the season

 

Gentle souls with spirits so loving and carefree

Forced to pounce one another under an oak tree

 

As wounded coons surrounded by battalion of hounds

Two boys hurt each other on God’s inviolable grounds

 

Mother would find one small boy with swollen lip

Wipe his blood off then send him back to the whip

 

Now with the thought of childhood’s precious time

A full grown man sits lamenting his unnatural crime

Author's Note

Many people suffer pain and trauma growing up. Some use it as a reason to hurt others. I am empathetic for this man, but he never should have used this as a reason........

Reviews

[Captain Blackheart (The..]

A powerful piece of writing. Your words show the violence of so childrens upbringing by there parents, does this mean when the child grow into adult how he is doomed to repeat this process? I dont have the answers, all I know is this is very powerful topic to be writting about. A hard subject but I think you did well!

[Prose-full]

Powerful indeed...

To "make" a child fight—dare them right into fear and anger...I've been this little boy.

"Two children who couldn’t envision the reason/
For result of inebriant had changed the season"

I think these two lines are earth-shaking; saying (maybe only to me) that life as a child flips into something much more than it should be...a child led to to do harm—ruining his innocence "...children who couldn’t envision the reason"


Brilliant flow, brilliant piece

[Carl]

I must first comend you for your courage and bravery in writing this peice. also being a female you have dome an amazing job on a very male subject. who knows why Dad needs a reason for the desired fight. Is it to make a man out of the boy as his father did before him. and his Son will do with his children. I should imadgine that this kids violence is not just for under the oak tree i'm sure he has seen his dad hit his wife a few times. Will he grow up with a violent school life a short fuse and a criminal record all because of one persons dsired fight under the oak tree all those years ago. I pray that he dosen't . Thank you for writing this disturbing yet needed peice
Kudos
Carl

[A.r. Bazian]

amazingly touching!
very good structure! and the rhyme is well set!
its handful of meanings!
the inhumanity of man and one's story growing up in a painful environment.

i love it!
i really really really love it!

its so well written!

[Kari]

i dont understand

[SPINNING ON that dizzy ..]

The emotion here is so raw.... so sad what can happen.... things not quite in our control.... But we should seek a time when it is up to us... find this place and heal.... Try to take things that you could not choose and make them not as important as those things you DO choose..... So much hurt, so much damage....
you truly captured the flight and the pain.

Kath

[DeAn]

we are indeed products of our enviroments and I fully believe that without hope of some sort, many will fall victim to the same.

excellent read, and the stanza's flowed very well.

great job

[THE BLACK SEAL]

this one was nicely done....as far as statistics go i wonder how high the rate of actual abuses is when taken into context with the rest of the population? Unsurprisingly the figure would be relatively low, and it is sad when it happens and it should be dealt with on an as needed basis to be sure, bt my point is that while the world is no bed of roses due to the meddling affairs of human beings, t also is not quite as bad as a lot of the media and the victims of such abuse would like us to believe.
Yes the truths are there but they are in reality few and far between.
I enjoyed the structure and rhythmic flow you used on this

[The Tao of Bri]

It is so horrible to be sure how people treat each other and animals!

[Drea]

What a sad piece. It shows how so many glorify violence in so many ways and in so many places. That it seeps into the spirit of society; and if we let it, many shrug their shoulders and excuse it; watch it pass by. I cringe when I hear a parent state "boys will be boys" as an excuse for what I consider violent or disrespectful behaviour.
Violence is all around us and it is often encouraged; yet how can it be tempered if no one steps up to say enough! This is no reason to pass the torch of pain

[a Messenger]

Ok, I had to go back and re-read this because I noticed other reviewers talking about the boys going off alone to fight. I thought it read they were forced to fight.
To think of a father, drunk or not, forcing his child to fight for the sport of his drunken friends is sick.
I too can empathize with the boy's pain even after becoming a man himself, but one would think that would be all the more reason to protect, rather than harm one's own loved ones.
A strong statement affirming the truth of the cyclical violence argument.
Very well written.