Daddy

My daddy is a nice man 
But you must follow the rules 
The house must always be tidy 
Mummy must look after him properly 
And I must be very good little boy 

My daddy sometimes gets angry 
Sometimes is really a lotta times 
His voice gets louder and louder 
And he grows ten feet taller 
And mummy looks like she gets smaller 

My daddy sometimes throws things 
And punches things, and kicks things 
Sometimes mummy gets in the way 
He says he won’t ever hurt me 
I want to believe him but 

My daddy is shouting now 
His face is getting redder and redder 
I am feeling scareder and scareder 
I jump up and run to my hiding place 
Between the curtains and the wall 

My daddy doesn’t see me go 
He is busy making mummy cry 
I don’t know how safe it is here 
But if I staystill holdmybreath closemyeyes 
The curtainshield makes me invisible 

My daddy has calmed down now 
He is saying his sorry words to mummy 
I-didn’t-mean-to-but-you-know 
He calls out for me in his happy voice 
It means it is safe to come out 

My daddy is a nice man 

The story behind the poem

This was published in the Coventry Positive Images Peace Festival 2018 anthology. You can read more about this here.