The Strength To Leave by mousethief

mousethief's Comments:  This one is kinda dark and graphic. But it expresses something that needs to be expressed, and which is very close to my heart -- stopping and preventing domestic violence.  I'm still working on the tune; it's a sort of descending-notes-of-the-scale sort of thing (cf. "Turn the Page" by Bob Seger, but different).

His supper's late again, he says;
Again he'll "make her pay."
Again he clenches up his fist;
Again she shrinks away.
There are bruises on her arms,
There is purple 'round her eyes
Yet tomorrow she'll protect him
With her self-destructive lies

(Chorus)
This is your mother.
This is your daughter.
This is your sister.
Who will mourn? Who will grieve?
Lord, hear my prayer.
Lord, make it stop.
Lord, help her find the strength to leave.

Again he rips her dress away
And throws her to the bed;
And brutally he takes her,
While she wishes she were dead.
And now, his lust and anger spent,
She hears him drive away.
She wonders why she married him;
She wonders why she stays.

(repeat chorus)

Once there was a little girl
With bright and shining eyes;
She loved lollipops and unicorns,
And rainbows in the sky.
She feels so very old now,
It's hard now to believe
She ever was so joyful.
Lord, give her the strength to leave.

(repeat Chorus)

©2000 Alex E. Riggle. All Rights Reserved.