The Road from Victim to Victory

On a recent trip to the state of Washington we were blessed to hear a poem written by a young women that very accurately expresses the feelings of a sex trafficking victim become victor.  Please share this moving poem that brings both awareness and hope...

"In A City With No Hope" 

     by Linzie Joerres

 "There's a girl who's all alone

in a city with no hope

All around her, girls are dying,

she sees it and she's crying

'cause it all started with their trying

to find a better world than the ones they'd always known.

She sits alone on the damp floor in the looming dark.

Her face has gotten hard and dull and painfully stark.

Her heart is growing cold here

as she fights the fear of growing old here,

forever trapped here in these walls, in this cage.

She fights the rage.

She was lied to and deceived

by the hope of something more.

She was tricked into believing

that there was something worth fighting for.

The woman and man,

they opened up their hands to her,

promised life to her dreams,

made her think that these things

were obtainable, reachable,

but as she reached, the shackles came down on her hands,

and all of her plans

went up in smoke as they forced her to smoke

to get her addicted.

Her life thus far has been depicted as

Pain.

All of her life's gains

are now worthless, pointless.

There's no point to her life,

in her darkness there's no light,

but in spite of the disappointment and pain,

stepping out of doubt's rain,

one flame of hope is sparked

inside her heart

and her mind starts spinning.

Maybe there's a chance of winning

the freedom she's been longing for, striving for, dying for, grasping,

Now she's clasping the hands of a man who's faceless, nameless, 9th man today,

meaningless in this seemingly endless display of insanity.

She's trying to keep her sanity as he's screaming profanities at her

because she doesn't please him.

She doesn't want to appease him

'cause she's frightened

that it will bite her, too,

this bug that's killing the others,

but it doesn't bother

or concern the man who's plan is just satisfaction

from her actions.

He doesn't have to use protection,

there's no protection for this girl in a city

where no one's going to pity her, save her.

She's got no saviour,

just accusers who want to use her

as an object for their pleasure.

She doesn't know that she's really a treasure

that should be guarded, secured, protected.

There's no protection for this girl in a city with no hope.

Her body

 is racked with pain

from thousands of beatings

Scars eating

away at her soul and her back

reminders of the lashes received

When she fought back

rolling and thrashing

around on the floor.

Now weak

She can’t fight this war anymore

She’s trying to think rationally, to think clearly,

But clearly, she’s become

A casualty

There's a knock at the door,

she gets up from the floor,

bracing herself for more.

She wishes it were over and done,

man number 12, the day's barely begun.

But this man doesn't have the same look in his eyes

as all the men who had come before,

all who shared a similar guise, before.

This man stretched out his hand

not to condemn her or harm her,

but to disarm her doubt.

He told her he wasn't there about that.

He was there to save her,

to be her Saviour,

to show her a hope she had never known before.

She falls to the ground in shock and disbelief,

so afraid that once again she's being deceived.

He picks her up off the floor

where she fell down,

then walks out the door,

his voice in her ear

drowns out

all her fears and insecurities.

She finally has security and protection

because this bold man took action.

For her sake, he put his life at stake,

and for once in her life of trying and striving,

she's now thriving,

experiencing freedom and a life of HOPE."