Renee is fourteen
Her family like pieces of broken glass
Running from pain that she can't outlast
An innocent victim of her past
She hitches a ride
Interstate 40 towards Hollywood
Maybe there she will be understood
At least she knows that the weather's good
She arrives with dreams
But she's in beyond her means
and inside her a child's voice screams
for someone to care
Renee needs a home
She squats in a shack down on Gardner street
In the shadow of wealth and the town's elite
Wondering each day what she'll have to eat
She sells what she must
She'd rather not but there's no way out
Survival becomes what her world's about
On the street money is all that counts
No time for tears
Anger hurts less than fear
Hardened beyond her years
and too tired to care
Renee is alive but each day one more part of her soul is dead
Could we have afforded to turn our heads
If she had been our little girl instead
Fifty States Music ASCAP/ Music For The Soul - used by permission