Some background on this poem: I wrote this when I was in basic training. Nearly ten years later, I found my Soldier's Handbook, and discovered I'd scrawled this across the cover.

strange lives

by Raine Wynd

i had a lover from across the bay
who used to hit me when I was in his way
i soon got tired of being pushed around
so i took a gun: now that lover's underground

i had a house on the other side of town
but the city council tore it down
now i live on the mercy of the streets
and you'd not know me if we were to meet

i am a child of the eighties
who became a woman of the nineties
i cannot stand this hunger
i will not stand it much longer

i am on fire for a man
who does not seem to understand
that i will love him no matter
that he thinks i'm whatever

i gave my last unicorn
to a man with a golden horn
for his sweet music i have paid
in the bloodied bed i have made