She lives in her grubby pyjamas that fall Off her body so wasted and frail There’s no-one she needs to dress up for at all The dark of the house turns her pale Two slices of toast, all she has for a meal She spends all her days feeling ill The scars on her wrists will eventually heal; The scars in her thoughts never will She shuffles back up to her room, locks the door Although she knows no-one’s around But forces of habit are hard to ignore And by such obsessions she’s bound She peers through the curtains, eyes blinded by light She blinks then turns her head away She doesn’t feel safe when she’s sat in plain sight She knows he'll come looking one day He'd been only smiles when her parents were there But once they were gone he would strike A cousin but much more than blood did they share He touched her however he liked She never once told him she liked what he did She never once told him to go So frightened of him, she would do as he bid So frightened to let someone know Becoming a woman made everything worse Each weekend was always the same She knew that no-one would believe in her curse She suffered alone when he came She told all her teachers she fell down the stairs Her clumsiness was widely known Her classmates all bullied and ganged up on her She spent all her schooldays alone Her cousin was sent down for mugging and theft Already the damage was done The years of torment and abuse that he'd left Had killed her desire for fun She doesn't let anyone come close enough To give her the love she deserves She only dates boyfriends who treat her too rough Then leave when she gets on their nerves She goes back to bed and holds on to her knees She hugs herself tightly to weep Just one of a million we don't hear the pleas But instead we just blissfully sleep ------ (originally posted on my website)