What could you possibly do to deserve such treatment
having your arms wrapped tightly
having to wear a strait-jacket?

How would you feel if someone delivered everybody’s food
in one large bowl and with just one large spoon
dashing baby powder on your head
to keep track to know
you are one that had been fed?

What would it be like to receive a gift from a family member at Christmas
only to have it taken away as if it would not be missed?

How could you sleep at night with twenty other people or more
how could you have any privacy without a bedroom, without a door?

What about bathing time - it just would not be the same, you know?
to stand naked, in the open, with people spraying you down with a large garden hose.

Imagine no seats on the toilets - which are made of steel and are cold
no stalls, no doors, no toilet paper - so you are told.

And not only that, how would you feel to have onlookers as you urinate
Or people keeping track of the next time
you defecate?

Suppose you were not able to speak -
whether you’re in pain, or happy, or have a story to tell - it wouldn’t matter
you’d be considered too meek.

Imagine if you were smarter than anyone gave you credit for
you’d have no place to prove it
no opportunities provided for you to explore.

Consider what it would be like not knowing any family and no traditions
having various people come and go in your life
no where close to having any meaningful relations.

What would it be like to be locked in a room - to be left alone
stripped naked, except for the restraints
you can’t call this a home?

How could you manage without possession of any keys
to the door of your home, to your car?
you’d be locked-up - you wouldn’t be free

What if you had no one to love?
This could not be enough
but then, no one would love you
this seems impossible, but true .

How could it be that it didn’t matter if you were to agree
to have someone you didn’t care about take advantage of
your body?

A life like this has a brutal history, cruel and mean
this script is not done yet,
as I continue to recall all that I have
heard and seen.

And no one should forget
that this is the way human beings
were and still are
being treated.