[Verse 1]
When you were younger, you had nightmares
You had scissor-pain and phantom limbs
And things that kept you nervous through that twelve-year interim
When you fell crossing that street, south of Houston, old Manhattan land
Those nightmares fell from building-tops and took you by the hand
And you were brought into those rooms, with sliding curtains, shining children's heads
And one of them, that boy, was not as lucky as you then
But he returns to you at night just when you think you may have fallen asleep
His face is up against yours, and you're too terrified to speak

[Chorus]
Oh, Sylvia
Oh, Sylvia
You may think that I'm not listening
But I am, goddamn, I am

[Verse 2]
I won't pretend I understand, because I can't, and know I never will
But something makes you sting, and something makes you want to kill
It made you crawl under that house and stick your head under the stove
It's all connected in those complicated nightmares that you wove

[Chorus]
Oh, Sylvia
Oh, Sylvia
You may think that I'm not listening
But I am, goddamn, I am