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NORMALITY

I was told that I was nothing,
By a man who's less than shit.
It wasn't quite the best of starts,
So I had to fight a bit.

It's extra hard to get ahead'
When you don't believe you can.
This all came around 'cause
I was conditioned by my old man

This man was less than nothing.
A waster all his years.
Depending on his family,
For all his cig's and beer

He saw this as acceptable,
Not to pay his way.
He thought it was his privelage
To lay in bed all day.

He never worked a day!, not one!.
He sponged and begged his way.
In my eyes he didn't have the right,
To breath another day.

He ruled the house with fists of steel.
A "Tyrant" some would say.
But I would call him something else,
"A bastard all his days".

We thought that this was normal,
To be beaten every day.
We'd lay there in bed terrified,
In case he'd start again.

One night he stabbed my mother.
The police came to the scene
He told them it was caused by drink.
They said "No more trouble please."

He told them he was off the drink,
Which lasted for a week.
Then when he got drunk again.
He slashed my sisters cheek.

Through this I'm quite bitter,
That nothing more was done.
By family, aunts or uncles.
THe police? They wouldn't come.

Now that I am older,
I can look back on these days
I now can understand it,
Why he acted in that way.

I can really undestand this,
'Cause he left me the same way.
With all the hate and anger
That his dad laid on him.

But there is one major differene,
Between me and him.
I went and looked for treatment,
But him? he was a wimp

Now after years of counseling.
Now I can understand
He was a very sad and lonely man,
But still he was my dad.
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REHAB?

After years in and out of many wards.
I Was very confused and had lost my job.
I was stuck in a rut, with no clear view.
Of what, if anything I wanted to do.

I was offered a place in the Rehab ward
It felt at the time like a gift from God
I place where I'd learn to get myself straight,
And a chance to live outside hospital gates

Pretty soon I started to see,
They weren't really helping me.
I noticed they weren't looking at me,
But looking instead at what I could be.

This sounds OK at the very first glance,
But it wasn't my life they were trying to enhance.
They didn't help me try to fit in.
All they wanted was a copy of them.

The charge nurse told us that drink was so bad,
That he never touched it 'cause he'd be like his dad.
The guy was a liar, and everyone knew,
Because every morning, he was stinking of booze.

The next thing he told us, I thought was just great,
"Don't get to close to patients in an emotional state"..
I said "That's fuckin brilliant coming from you"
"You're screwing my mate, who's been badly abused".

This girl was suicidal she jumpe from the 3rd floor.
And she gashed her legs kicking in a glass door.
She just couldn't handle having sex with him,
He did not give a shit, it was all HIM HIM HIM.

Then the ward maids came to learn us to clean,
That was in between smoking and watching TV.
Then a staff nurse showed us all hou to cook?
To boil potatoes she needed a book.

You think that's funny, well listne to this,
She tried to fry fish, without dressing it first
Then she got angry and smashed all the plates.
She hadn't a clue. All her life she had maids.

Eventually I'd had enough of the place.
I walked up to the charge nurse and spat in his face,
He then tried to punch me, I said "That wouldn't be wise"
"One word from me and you can say bye bye"

He didn't scare me I knew I was safe,
'cause one word Heather and he'd have to leave.
Heather's OK now. She lives with her mum.
And the ward is much nicer as the charge nurse has gone
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