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TITLE: An Elephant in My Living Room.
By Monica Raye Daly
04/13/07
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an opening to my story I'm writing, reflecting how a grew up in a disfunctional home.
so please do not use it it is mine.
An Elephant in My Living Room.

When I was a little girl, we had an elephant in my living room.
No one wanted to talk about it, or even admit of our gloom.
The Elephant was as tall as the ceiling, and just as wide as the walls.
It was huge and I was so little, never felt safe, no, not at all.

You had to tip toe oh so quietly, so it would not freak out,
you would not want it stomping around, and go thrashing about.
Crashing things and creating damage to our living room,
we had to quietly clean up the mess, with a dust pan and a broom.

I'm sure the neighbors could see the elephant, it was right in front the window,
Why no one called the authorities, I guess I'll never know.
We could not let it out the door, others would get hurt outside,
so we kept the elephant in the house, and labeled it our pride.

Poor Mom and Dad, they just really didn't know what to do,
as long as no one said a word the elephant stayed cool.
As soon as they started to talk, Mom would duck, Dad defended,
I of course got knocked around, again and again and again,

There were bruises, scrapes and cuts...it would be safer to be quiet,
No matter what we said or did we really could not hide it.
We all kinda knew the elephant could not go live in the zoo,
It's to intimidating, no one wanted it, trust me, neither would you.

I'm an adult now and my elephant, is in a box in the closet.
For something that once ruled my life, I now rule over it.
It's an inch and a half short, I hardly think of it since it got so small.
I found a way to shrink the elephant, it's not intimidating, praise God of all.

Now what was it that God said,"Love one another, as I love you,"
That is loving unconditional, he wishes that we do.
God also said,"Do unto others as you would have other do unto you,"
If I want trust when I should be truth full, I need to listen, be honest too.

The secret to my prayer you see, sit down and talk respectful.
no blaming, interrupting, be patient, responsible have self control.
In marrage there should be two winners, when two become one.
My elephant shrunk, I stopped feeding fear and intimidation.

My Elephants name is Domestic Violence.

Monica Raye Daly.
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