The Padded Room Poem by Joe Hughes

It's just my eye that you can see,
Come closer now, can you see me?
I'm locked in here against my will,
They tell me I am very ill.
It's just my eye that you can see,
I've been in here since half past three..........

I've been in here six hours so far,
I have to pee in a urine jar.
The floor is padded, so are the walls,
No one hears my plaintive calls.
I've been in here six hours or more,
I think I'll be here twenty four...............

Two days have passed, I know the score,
Injections - I've had four or more.
There's nothing here for me to do,
The nursing staff's a motley crew.
Two days have passed, I know the score,
I'm claustrophobic and I'm sore.

My head's a maze of mad ideas,
Of manic thoughts and paranoid fears.
They found me naked in the rain,
I stabbed a guard on a Connex train.
My head's a maze of mad ideas,
But no one sees my inner tears.

It's just my eye that you can see,
But as a child - yes, one of three,
Abused and used - to prison driven,
I spent a life with crime most ridden.
It's just my eye that you can see,
Two days have passed and now it's three............

(The padded cell has a one way eye viewer
for staff use..)