A Dollar, A Dime

A dollar, a dime a minute

Time is money honey, where'd you sleep last night?

A stranger's bed is warmer

Than the cold, hard street, she says,

Every foot that walks on by

Might as well be a kick in the face

They don't even care to glance.

it's cold out there,

Their eyes.

What's better, a dollar or a dime a minute?

Cold pennies shoved in grasping hands

Or singles shoved down a stranger's pants.

Time is money honey, where'd you sleep last night?

Money is money,

It's all the same to me, she says,

Cold stone benches or cheap motel beds

Sitting on the curb in the day

Getting kicked by pennies and ignorance.

Standing on the corner in the night

Getting slapped by dollars and shame.

A dollar or a dime a minute, it makes no difference.

There's nobody who's gonna save her

'Til she's a cold white face buried under the snow,

Half starved and lost in the storm that we've created for her.

Cold glances in her direction

Just another one.

Dollars and dimes thrown by us in her face,

Opportunities wrenched from her grasp,

Now she's gone and all we feel for her is shame.

Why?