Shadow of past sorrows

Believe me when I say that I've seen hell
I know its taste and touch and smell
For the first nine years in its heart I fell
And forever in its shadow is where I'll dwell

You don't know me or the horror I've seen
Its a place I wish for no-one to have been
Some times I think its all just a dream
But I still show the scars & hear the screams

I can't say how bad it really truely was now
I won't give details of torture and how
The things done to me you'd never allow
And yet they happened to me somehow

I know for sure that im not alone
In this pain and sorrow that's now my home
Where the silence and darkness inside have grown
But I wish that your life has happiness shown

Now here I stand before my peers
To see your judgement of my former years
Its a place I stand with eyes in tears
But I'll stand here now and take your jeers

This is not a story of only sorrow
Not just a tale of my shell left hollow
For the days are gone long from tomorrow
I hold my head high and no memories follow

These things so bad are in my past
The scars I have will always last
And the years go by like a shadow cast
My strength and pride have still held fast

Im stronger now than I was back then
Was just a boy but now a grown man
I still remember the memories I can
But will no more turn my back on them