Fast Car

She didn't really tell me
That her parents were killed when she was seven years old
That she was in foster homes ever since then
That she got to see her brother every now and then
But that two months ago
He killed himself
And she was angry
And did something foolish
And now she's here
Waiting for a baby to be born in May

She didn't really tell me those things
Because those things don't really happen to people
God watches over
And when it gets really hard
We get a break
Only there is no break
It just stays hard

Had to unlock the gate
To let her go to meet her parole officer
Somewhere not near by
Leaving at dawn for a 10 o'clock appointment
Babies in the back seat
I wonder why they have to leave so early
Her husband has to restart the car several times
It sputters down the road
Yeah, it might take them three hours to get there...

And I think life just stays hard
For some
That gospel verse
"To those who have much
More will be given
And to those who have little
Even that will be taken away"
And I don't think about how we are being told
To make good use of our gifts
But rather
How those who have much always know how to get more
And those who have so little
Have their little bit taken away from them
Because the poor steal from the poor
As quickly as they steal from the rich
And the rich,
well, sometimes they steal,
but they never get caught.

I sat there, looking at the little girl
thinking how much I had suffered
and survived
and just listening to her
Beginning her journey
Figuring it out
Deciding not to feel

I remember those days of not feeling
And those days when the feelings began
And how deeply it wounded me
So much so that I thought
It might be better to be dead

But I pressed on
Yet never alone
And I found the other side
The side with the light
The side where I could smile again
And mean it

And I decided
When the time comes for her to feel
I think she will make it
After it hurts a lot
She find herself on the side of the light
And she'll be okay

Yes, this one will be okay
Yet still, to think of her, I cry