Ballad of the Broken

She’s a girl in a cheap bar
on a beer-stained dance floor,
She’s spun around and switched over her ring.
She’s dancing like she wants to
be picked up or kicked out
Wishing someone would show her she’s worth something.

She tries to explain herself
But she often falls short
With her drinking and piercings and lyrics
She’s inked and she’s smokey
Uncovered with father wounds
Alone in the world, with herself to fix.

He’s the young man who shadows
in the back on Sunday,
like he’s just there to check a box and go home.
He’s got a kid out of wedlock
And he messed up, but repented,
By his parents rejected he stands alone.

Mothers gather up their children
When he walks through the door
People profile and judge him and glare
Sometimes he a bit loose,
But that don’t mean he’s all lost
Even though he smokes and he drinks and he swears

Yes we’re broken but we’re beautiful
So here’s a howl at the moon
For the ones who’s pain remains unspoken
Like Cash we make things brighter
With the darkness on our backs
So here’s a ballad of the broken