Barber of the Sphinx

"Not so bad to be dying if you're already dead,"

He must have said as he walked in the door.

And I thought he was lying till I picked up that thread;

I heard it hum in my head as I sat on the floor.

He said, "Don't start with crying or I'll send you to bed!

But let us, instead, begin with this tug-of-war!"

I made some knots for tying, till my hands felt like lead,

And the floorboards ran red and my knuckles were sore.

Then he started sighing about the color I bled

Saying I would not get fed and should now live no more.