Ghetto Girl

Cold heart nothing matters, Bad choices, spiraling faster Numb the pain, nothing matters, This is her; the walking disaster Flashing lights, cop cars This time she’s gone too far Nothing matters, because no one cares Mother’s shooting up, Daddy isn’t there. One more tattoo, one more scar Distracts them all from the cuts on her heart. She’s seen the fights, dealt the drugs Dollar for dollar, spare the love. A dropout she is, criminal she will become Carrying a wicked mouth, and her daddy’s loaded gun. Life is never easy when you’re digging for gold. But it’s too late now; to the devil her soul is sold. One day she’ll regret this path, wonder ‘what if..’ But she’ll wonder it from a cell bed, cold and stiff. What if that teacher in jr. high, had asked about that cut above her eye. Or what if in grade eleven they told her not to drop out; instead asked why. Maybe then her story wouldn’t have been over so fast, she might even hold that master’s degree at last. She’d be a lawyer, doctor, something more Something better than the woman crying silently on the prison floor.