For Cryin' Out Loud

For crying out loud, for crying out loud—
Half this damn world is crying out loud!
Babe got no mama now mom with no papa:
Works for two weeks to make less than a dollar.
Saves all she gets to send it back home.
Some day they’ll come but for now she’s alone
No food to eat she sleeps out on the street,
Pleads for some kindness from strangers she meets
His dad kicked him out when he was fifteen
For five lonely years, begs for change as he bleeds.
Depressed and confused and hating her life,
She writes on her arms with the point of a knife.
Up on the bridge he looks down on the water
Today he’s a man; tomorrow a martyr.
Raped by her elder abused by her chief
Every night she cries herself to sleep.

For crying out loud, for crying out loud—
Half this damn world is crying out loud!
Slowly the glimmer fades out of his eyes
Losing to AIDs in the fight of his life
Make up and smiles as hard as she tries
Can’t mask the bruises she’s keeping inside
Pretends he don’t know where she’s goin’ each night
He hates this but loves her—pretends they’re alright
She dances at night to pay all her bills
Tries to escape and gets high on some pills
Stands on the corner; prays for relief
She’s selling her soul for a few bites to eat
A gun on his belt, a grenade in his hand,
Just ten years old but he kills like a man.
Innocent blood spilt in ignorant hate
Violence your censors can never erase

Every heart, every eye, every voice is starting to cry
For crying out loud—jut say it aloud
Every soul is crying out loud…