You’re just another statistic
Another fatherless home
Another place, a different bed, one more night
She forgets you’re here sometimes
But it’s better that way.
Better she forgets, then being hit again
You want daddy to come home
But he’s not baby. He’s not coming back.
You’re just another child
Pulled out of school till she can make ends meet
They won’t notice you’re gone anyway,
Not another kid from the ghetto.
Your backpack sits in the corner
Books, crayons, papers crammed inside
She hasn’t looked at your work yet,
Your paper with the sticker that says “Good job.”
You’re just another hungry mouth to feed
No more food today
Your stomach has started to hurt from all the hotdogs she
fed you
The other kids come back tomorrow
But there’s none for them either.
She screams at you to stop asking
But you don’t understand, you don’t understand why.
Can’t she use the money saved for the cigarettes?
Go to sleep baby.
Maybe when we wake up this dream will be over.
You feel like just another stranger
All of these people you’ve never met
Giving mamma food, a new place to sleep
It’s so quiet here.
It’s almost scary.
But you smiled today. You smiled so big.
They started to pray to this person named Jesus
They asked Him to protect you, to save mamma.
You sang a song and said some words. More words about Jesus.
It doesn’t make sense. Who is He?
They calmed her down. Maybe for awhile she will stop hitting
again.
You wish she would stop screaming.
Maybe Jesus can help her do that too.
She’s sitting on the front porch with mamma again.
Her nice car sits outside.
You like her car. It feels safe.
She always helps you buckle your seatbelt. No one else does
that.
Tonight though you didn’t let her hug you goodbye when she
left.
Maybe she’ll leave too.
Just like daddy. Please come home soon daddy.
It’s been a long week
Lots of new homes. But mamma says this is the one.
It’s so crowded here with all the other kids,
But it’s closer to where daddy lives she says.
It’s where mamma feels safest, where mamma knows best.
You get to go to school again soon.
After a lot of tomorrows you can go back.
You wonder about those new people,
If they’ll ever come back.
You wonder if their prayers for your daddy will come true.
Maybe, maybe, maybe. You hope.
We pray for you.
We pray for you and your mamma and your baby brothers.
We pray for your daddy to come home soon.
We pray Jesus saves you.
We pray He saves your whole family.
We think about you at night, and wonder if you're safe.
We wonder if your mamma will call us back and let us come
see you again.
We want you to be more than a statistic.
We want to see you smile again.
We want to hug you again.
If we could, we’d all bring you home again tonight.
But we can’t. Little man, we can’t.
So we’ll ask Jesus again tonight for you.
And tomorrow. And all the other tomorrow’s after that.
