Milk Carton Runaway Mother

Just a child of fifteen years, way too young to face such fears

Parents didn’t understand why, she always shed so many tears

They said “We give her everything a child could ever need”

Thinking love could be replaced and bought with some naïve greed

So she made all the wrong decisions, gave in to some young fellow

Found out about broken hearts, when she saw his empty pillow

A baby waiting for a baby, she hit the unforgiving, lonely streets

Found cash in sleazy hotel rooms, friends in her non-prescription treats

Parents blamed the system; her Prince Charming went away to school

Another lost, milk carton-runaway, my…how fast life can turn cruel

The baby born a tiny drug addict, never heard his Mother’s pleading voice

He never knew a Grandma’s kisses, too bad he didn’t get a choice

They found her in a drug dive, a needle hanging from her arm

Her dirty rags upon the floor, evidence of her trade for charm

But her pocket held a baby’s rattle, her folks barely wondered why

Two days before her sixteenth birthday, and no one heard the baby cry.