I lived in an amazing house with three siblings
We would all play happily and never argue
Everyday mother and father would join in
Then my older brother then went off to fight someone else’s war

I lived in a content house with two siblings
We would smile and sometimes tell funny jokes
My parents said they didn’t have time to play silly games
Next my sister left to live with a man who said she was beautiful

I lived in a house with my brother
We would reminisce about the fun we once had
Father would come home drunk and mother would cry
My brother spent his last penny on a one-way ticket out

I lived in a melancholy house with my parents
I would give my father beer as he yelled at the Tv
Mother found father in bed with another woman
He left after the divorce papers were filed

I lived in an empty house with my mother
We would cry when thinking about a happier time
I would then take mother to see a therapist
Mother came home as a lifeless husk

I live alone
Gradually news started coming on the phone
brother was killed for believing in the wrong cause
sister was beaten by a stranger of a husband
brother works a nine to five job
mother died from an addiction to pills
I began to recognise the futility of life
I leave as I jump off the building where my brother works
Three years later and I recognise error in my earlier ways
I should never have given up hope
Instead I should have kept on fighting
After extensive hospital care and therapy
I would consider myself a better person
I now inspire children to not make the same mistakes
I run a local support aid for suffering children
I tell them the same message I am about to tell you
Our background is not our sob story to evoke sympathy
It is not an excuse to spread evil in this world
We cannot blame others for the pain suffered
We must be the good we want to receive

Instead of immediately turning to the appealing darkness
We must seek support to navigate our way to the light