Four short lines describe a dream in which someone returns: a person from the past who hurt the speaker. The poem doesn't say who this is or exactly what happened, and that silence is part of its force. We only see the pattern. The figure appears looking just as he did "back then," accuses the speaker of lying, and says she "asked for it." Those are the kinds of words that blame a victim for what was done to her.
The most chilling moment is the scream that makes no sound. It captures the helplessness of a nightmare, but it also suggests being silenced and not believed. The final line, "as bad as ever," says the harm has lost none of its power with time. The mood is dread, claustrophobic and bare. The plain, flat language makes it feel like a memory the speaker can't escape, even in sleep.