I have been writing poetry since the early 90's and never really took it serious until someone read one and told me I should write a book. This book talks about love I've felt and love that I lost. It talks about my hopes and dreams. I endured abuse, mental, physical and emotional, at the hands of others and I thank God for giving me the gift of poetry so that I was able to write when I was hurt. The more I was hurt or abused, the more I wrote. Through the writing of these poems, I found myself healing. Before I wasn't able to talk about the abuse to others, but now I can shared my story with hopes of helping others. I never told anyone of what I went through until a few years ago. I had something that I wrote about in my book called a Silent Cry that goes unheard by a deafened ear. I had a silent cry. I was afraid to look people in the eyes for fear of them seeing my pain. The closer I got to God, the more I healed and the more I wrote. My book is also dedicated to my late father who passed away a few years ago. I've always wanted to make my parents proud and until recently I had lost motivation to have my book published. I hope to be able to give back to those that have helped me along the ways, those people that inspired me not to give up. A lot of my poems talk about love. Love I desired to have. Love I thought I had but it wasn't real. Love that a little girl dreamed of having when she became a woman. So many people suffer abuse and are afraid to talk about it for fear of not being believed. I kept silent because I didn't want anyone to know what I went through. My hopes, again, for my book is that if it only touch one person and cause them to be able to walk out of an abuse relationship, then my job is done. I pray this book reaches the hands of, not just women, but men as well and that through it, it gives them hope that they too can make it.