There’s one thousand things they’ll teach you

Just before they turn to leech you of your soul

And all your time

And they’ll be “so pleased to meet you”

And to know if they can treat you to a meal

They’ll pour the wine

Then they’ll tell you that you want it

And they’ll show you how to flaunt it

At the same time as you climb

When you’re so wowed by all the glamour

You can’t even feel the hammer

As it shatters through your spine

But I didn’t get the words they said

And I never learned to write between the lines

Before you read

And they tell you you’re alone

Now you’re drowning in politeness

But you start the sense the tightness

Of the rope you walk or hang

They’ve got eight fingers in your pies

And the last two in your eyes

To hide the glistening of their fangs

But we could hear the words not said

Slip between their grinning teeth

To make their way inside your head

Then they tell you you’re so close

Yes, there’s ten thousand things they’ll teach you

To facilitate the breach into your head

Your heart, your mind

And if you dare not meet projections

You find - despite your best objections -

They will cast you from their side

But I didn’t get the words they said

And I never learned to write between the lines

Before you read

And they tell you you’re alone