Things I Remember (not sure about this one)

I remember being slapped around
Raped and beaten and told to go home

And the priest who wanted to hear
The details before absolving me

I remember being kidnapped and knifed
Driven to the dam to be thrown off

My miracle escape and the 20 mile hike
Barefoot through the desert back

Thinking the whole time that I was
So happy to be alive and still a son

And try not to step on any rattlers
Or gila monsters scorpians or thorns

I remember my uncle chaining me
To a tree so he could eat dinner

In peace and with the money my mom
Gave me for the weekend I didn't

Visit because she had to confer
With doctors about what to do with her

I remember when he died what I was doing
And what everyone else was doing

I remember him lying there looking dead
And thinking I wouldn't see him again

Even when I die even if I close my eyes
Where only a feeling is left in the hole

And I remember other things like salty
Sunshine on the rocks and green lobster

Crawling over the checkerboard tiles
Across the kitchen floor to the stove

Just to get it over with I thought
Sweating in a thick cloud of steam

But mostly I remember the love's power
Given with asking anything in return

As if it grew on trees or rained down
From the clouds so abundant was it

That no matter what we did had done
To us there was someone you could lean

On, and remembering this, the sweetest
Part makes my world a place to be.