The Ballad of the Broken

The woman pushes her shopping cart,
two kids pressed against her side.
Her husband has ran, she's doing all that she can
And her job doesn't really provide.

Old man Henry sits on the bench
at the park where he usually goes.
She is not there, leaving him in despair
And he never even got to propose.

The drug dealer, Rick, counts his cash,
the profits he earned today.
Innocence he lacks, as he sells all his crack
Behind him, the dirty city's lights flash

The little boy cries in his room
'Cause Dad hit Mom one too many times.
They're yelling again, causing so much pain
He doesn't even know it's a crime.

John lost his job today,
so he bought a bottle o' whiskey.
He drank it all, and let the tears fall
He doesn't know the price he'll soon pay.

The young teenage rebel takes the knife to the wrist
Why doesn't anyone understand?
She's dying inside, with nowhere to hide
Does anyone know she exists?

The smile he wears covers the pain
of the loved one that's long since passed.
He looks real calm, but he misses his mom
He fakes a grin over the tears he constrains.

The woman downs a bottle of beer
at the club she's worked at for years,
She swings on the pole, slowly killing her soul
How did Daddy's little girl get here?

Alexander the Lost sits on the curb,
his hood pulled up over his head.
He's a runaway, a reject, and a stray
and a little more than slightly disturbed.

The kids poke and laugh at May
on the playground outside the school.
Her anger builds, but she stays still
She'll show them all one day.

These peoples' happiness seem so out of range...
They're sad and broken-hearted.
Bent out of shape, need an escape
But is it really too late for them to change?