I had fallen asleep wearing a shift of skin,
Said they, that is forbidden by the rules,
And they hauled me into a sitting position
And pulled it easily off me.
I wasn’t surprised they stripped me bare without asking,
They had their obligations to think of,
What amazed me was the way the thin skin
Could so easily be peeled away.
It remained all in one piece
A shift of fine stuff
If I’d had a bit of light I could
Have embroidered little pink flowers on it.
Just that it had got turned the wrong way around
And I couldn’t turn it the right way again,
Just that nobody had thought
To put a needle and thread under my pillow.