chinese water torture

by india southgate.

 
"Have you heard what they do?
They take a political prisoner,
Or a regular one,
And they drop drips of water, 
On their head,
At unpredictable increments.
Isn't that horrible?
There are variations to it too, 
By adding a blindfold,
You can deny them of their senses,
So that the drop is all they have.
By adding the sound of crying, 
You can send them mad, 
In about an hour or twenty.
Some say it's a psychological thing,
That it's the restraints that do the most damage."

Periodically at night,
When I lay on my back,
I can feel a drip drop and hit me suddenly,
And escape under the sleep mask,
Like oxen towing a bell from the tower, 
Pulling the silver into the sea,
past my ear and on its way,
hit the pillow beneath.
Often, I can hear the pillow breathe,
The pillow shake, the pillow mumble,
The pillow pray, babble, thrash, fret.
It pleads for not another drop.
But I can't help it.
I can't ever predict it,
But I know that it will always keep on coming.
It sends us both mad.

[unpublished]

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