There Once was a Boy

There once was a boy...

Who saw Cowboys and Indians where none were there
Who's battles he would join upon his galloping mare
When inches away the tomahawk he would gawk
He would look down from on high through the eyes of a hawk

There once was a boy...

Who every night would fly through the air
Straight through the constellation named for the bear
Onward still to the beginnings of the universe
Where life began and forever became worse

There once was a boy...

Who was violated at 8 and would never be the same
The pain of life brought unfathomable shame
The God of his mother simply could not be
As the torture began and he would never be free

There once was a boy...

Family became the enemy within
There was no safety, to his chagrin
He told no one his shame to this very day
Not even God when on his knees he would pray

There once was a boy...

Who fell quicker and quicker towards the realm called Hell
Where the rest of his life in his own mind he would dwell
Reality dissipated and the imaginings became real
The only life that mattered was the one called surreal

There once was a boy...

Backstory

I just discovered this poem in an old box of photos. I have no recollection of having written it,
but I know I was 18 years old when I wrote it based on the copyright date. It would have been
shortly before my marriage, so around March of 1978.