No dignity for the 4th Floor Psych Ward gang Paraded about through the entire building Rockin' and rollin' blue & white striped bath robes Didn't bother with the belts, we coulda made it work By sheer determination and the awkward looks on our faces We set the trend for people who didn't know any better
Out for a trip to the commissary Fifty cents in hand for a can of soda Even though the medicine I was on Made Dr. Pepper taste like club soda infused with flecks of rust And a metallic, radioactive aftertaste That was far from the sugar rush one would expect Coca-Cola was even worst
Such dignity we carried, they called the food tray box "the chow cart" And the food was barely fit for animals Quickly transitioning from warm to cool Always some ridiculously nasty chicken-based meal I had never seen a fried chicken breast that was gray But the sherbet was heaven for my cotton mouth Dry as the tundra I lost a lot of weight during those months I survived on the fourth floor I shot some 8-Ball pool with swagger and Sinatra confidence Convinced I saw recognition in a visiting gal's eye A flick of the wrist and this goofball magically exuded *** appeal Nothing more than confidence I could make those two girls smile and blush Because they could sense the looseness in my crotch They could see I was in charge, batshit crazy as I may have been I had reached the perfect weight For those blue and white striped bath robes to truly shine
I let them walk away, didn't say anything I knew where they were going I knew what they'd be doing when they got there Always on their minds
Why couldn't the catatonic Ethiopian soldier girl do it like me? She couldn't even hold a spoon Psych techs had to feed her like a helpless baby child Even then she resisted So that food dribbled down the sides of her cheeks But one day I passed her room, looking in She was brushing her hair without a problem There was some intelligence in her eyes She caught me staring and with perfect ease she rose to close the door in my face Catatonic no more? Or was she ever? Was ANY of this real Or was it all staged for my benefit? What exactly was I doing on the fourth floor? Was it a test? Was I a guinea pig? That spot on my skull just behind my right ear It itched a lot lately Was that bump a quartz crystal embedded between skin and muscle?