10th Street

I always get sick when I come here
I’ll bet I’m white as a sheet
And the tears still flow
From a lifetime ago
When I come back to 10th Street

The house is brown these days
Back then it was yellow and white
And the kids would play
In the street all day
Till the bugs came out at night

We married because I was pregnant
And I knew he never loved me
I felt like dirt
It was hell on earth
But I did it for the family

I got used to all the beatings
And the fights you could hear from the street
But he went too far
When he bloodied his daughter
In the kitchen there on 10th Street

I often cry for my children
When I come looking for answers
Because they’re both divorced
And sick and poor
And I blame it all on 10th Street

As for their lousy father
He split and moved to Kentucky
And it kills me to think
That he still blames me
For wrecking the family

My mother’s been dead for decades
But I can still hear her say
It’s your children’s children
And their children’s children
Who’ll pay for your mistakes

And I’m not the praying kind
But I said a prayer for the family
And when I was done
I spat on the ground
And walked away from 10th Street
 

© 2020 Plaid Rain Music (BMI)