I woke up one day; the air was damp, My bed felt rock hard, and my room dark. I reached for the telephone but there was none Lunged out of bed and the cold floor sent shivers down my spine. “Go back to bed, you’re dreaming”, I thought That maybe in a nightmare I was caught. But reality is scarier than nightmares I realised descending the spiral stairs When, the night before, I remembered That down the same stairs I had stumbled Just like I have stumbled along life Being forced to live, to survive But those thoughts, they keep haunting me As if someone is inside my head and won't let me be And there spoke the child with a voice so mild, I listened and heard, with self-despise, "Why did you grow me up to be you? "Never mind. Tell me how do you do?"