Where Brenda Sleeps

[verse] My crazy sister had roamed homeless for so long. Once an intellectual, then her brain went wrong. For hospitals to keep her, she had to be a danger. A strange logic, but to reality they were a stranger. [chorus] Where does Brenda sleep tonight? On an underpass out of sight? In a doorway, or a city park? Seeing visions in the dark? [verse] One day, a call came in on my cell. It was Brenda's voice she had stories to tell. She said she was at Union Station DC I said I'd be there as fast as I could be. [verse] I called Dad, he said you can't cope She's too much to handle not much hope Doctor says put her on a plane back here. I had to agree but felt an undefined fear. [verse] Brenda was waiting - tousled hair, blue eyes. She gave me a hug; I felt my spirits rise. She wanted to come to my house, I had to demur. "Dad wants you flown home; you need a cure." [verse] "No way" said Brenda, ready to fight. So I put her in a hotel just for the night. I said, "see you next day just wait for me." Brenda saw a trap and went out to be free. [verse] After work I came home, got as far as my door. Two cops standing there, with photos in store. Of Brenda stabbed 40 times, chest and face. By a supposed member of the human race. [chorus] Where does Brenda sleep tonight? On an overpass hiding from sight? In a doorway, or a city park? Seeing visions in the dark? [verse] You can blame the underworld for the crime But subsidized attorneys stopped care every time. The lawyers excuse: she had always been free. But that was not freedom's meaning to me. [verse] Their motto seemed to be "Live free and die." Freedom without reason is just a good-sounding lie. We couldn't give her the one chance to get well. She died with her rights on, after 4 years of hell. [verse] Now its true that there can be shades of gray. But from the spiral there should be a better way Dad's home not meant as a madwoman's base. And freedom is not just about physical space. [end] So now we know where Brenda sleeps. Under a stone where a willow weeps. Rosy ideals need common sense at the core. No freedom now, she'll roam no more.