White sheets
covered her
from the world;
and red ribbons
laced around
her back
and her arms.

The colors
of black and blue
surrounded
her body too;
soon to be
joined
by the color of blood.

Liquid rubies
dripped
and dropped
from her body,
falling
and crashing
into the ground.

The only music,
she heard
was a lullaby,
as she laid
with pain,
on a bed
of dreams.

When she had
no reason to hope,
she still hoped;
and so
she endured the pain,
that they inflicted
and whipped
on her.

And so,
with each rise
and with each fall
of her breath,
she still lives;
asleep,
on a bed
with a mask.

Pieces of midnight
fell around her
as waves;
as she laid
awake
yet asleep,
in the midst
of confusions
and illusions,
in the hospital.