Elizabeth Cook - Tabitha Tuder’s Mama

You wouldn’t know it by the faded flowers in the yard
But spirits there are broken and time goes hard
The sun can be shining all over town
But here one solitary cloud hangs round
She dusts her room and straighten her shoes
Like she might walk back into em off the six ‘o clock news

She’s pretty but the world hardly looks up
When your mama makes lunch and your daddy drives a truck
She can't help but wonder but she don’t dare
Let her mind linger too long there
Thеre’s a number written by a 12 yr old facе
In a file in Nashville labeled cold case
And an old box fan still cuts the heat
Ruffled curtains blow on Lillian Street

Five sex offenders live on this street
The whole goddamn world crawling with creeps
Too close to where her dresses twirled
Too close too late too bad little girl
Poor people gotta have a lot of heart
Who’s worth more than five thousand dollars
Elizabeth Smart

Please pray for Tabitha Tuders mama
Even if you don’t pray at all
Please pray for Tabitha Tuders mama
Even if you don’t pray at all
Still in her heart still in her head
Still curled up on a pallet at the food of the bed
Too close to where her dresses twirled
Too close too late too bad little girl