Institutionalization

The word sounds so professional
It sounds so tidy and clean
You know that you could eat off of it
But you have NO idea what it means

It’s the time factory for the damned
Where you don’t expect to survive
It’s the experience no one wants to know
Where only the lucky get out alive

You know you are always watched
There is no such thing as privacy
You don’t tell about the things you know
They will tell you not to believe what you see

They tell you when to wake
They tell you when to sleep
They tell you when to exercise
They tell you what to eat

They don’t want you to get thin
They don’t want you to get fat
They don’t want you to be unruly
So they got pills for all of that

I would do anything for a walk in the woods
Just to see the Fall leaves in September
I am neither a threat to myself or others
There are just some days I can’t remember

You never leave your assigned place
And the halls are always patrolled
I am not a criminal, or even insane
I have committed the crime of being old