Diane Cluck - Touch Deprivation Lyrics
They did an experiment with babiesback in world war twoand the babies all were orphansso no one cared or knewthey called it 'touch deprivation'and this is what they didif a baby started cryingor put a hand out from its crib--the nurses glid on by as if they'd seen nothing at allthe nurses glid on by and checked the chart offon the wall, writing“nothing unusual here--subjects continue rockingback and forth as if they sensea thunderstorm is coming”and that flock of springtime babiesnesting quiet in the labwere just fistfuls of feathersstuffing pillows after thatand those second world war nurseswho had killed the orphan kidslived out cursed lives as spinstersin trade for what they didthey did a similar experiment in new yorkand this is what they did--they rolled out the sheets of tarmacand sliced them into gridthen they filled the maze with peoplebut they told them not to touchthey convinced them it weren't civilizedand we believed as muchwhy do you apologize when you bump into my arm on the train ?and you apologize three timeslike it really ever caused anyone harm or painbeing bumped intodo you know you are the first person to touch mein a month ?and sometimes i like the feeling of accidental touchan experiment with ladieswith ladies and with menwe could decide to lose our languageso that we might try our skinstrangers piggyback each otherfor thrill of contact sportand i finally could talk to youbut this time without wordscuz you don't realize how you pollute the gamewhen you keep speaking circlesand your circles sound the samesaying, 'i'm fine. how are you ?i'm good. how are you ?i'm fine. how are you ?i'm good. how are you ?i'm finding it hard to relate tosituations where i am asked to speak...
