My collarbone was broken with a shove to the ground
 couldn’t tell a sole, so I didn’t get it bound
So now it is healed with a great big knot there
Every day it reminds me that he didn’t really care

In the middle of the winter he pushed me outside
Didn’t dare wake the neighbors so I stood there and cried
I will never forget being chilled to the core
Or hearing the click as he locked up the door

He slapped me so hard that my eardrum did pop
And all of a sudden my hearing did stop
A new one the doctors put into my head
The way it had happened was just left unsaid

Why let a person do such things to me?
It was cruel and offensive, of that we agree
I married a man while I was still but a child
Then was told by my Mom not to get him so riled

I was led to believe it was all my own fault
I should have held my tongue, left the words in a vault
When he hit me and kicked me and broke of my ribs
I would make up some story, I would tell lots of fibs

I promised my children, who wanted to believe
That the next time he hit me we’d pack up and leave
But then he would threaten that he’d take them away
He told me that it was the price I would pay

I was locked in a room with the phone cords torn out
He was afraid that I might give authorities a shout
I felt like an animal so helpless and trapped
All of my self esteem had surely been zapped

Why do I save animals, many people ask
Why do I feel it’s a God given task
I look in their eyes and see myself there
The hopeless, the helpless, with no one to care

To put it in words would be hard to describe
The gain of their trust I rarely have to bribe
They can tell that at some point I felt as they do
I can tell by their look they are saying thank you

Today I am strong, yet untrusting of man
But for animals I will do everything that I can
The trust they have taught me, the love they bestow
It’s almost as if through my blood it does flow

It’s a passion unlike any other I’ve known
I never feel lonely out here on my own
I’ve even forgiven the man who hurt me
It was the only way to let my spirit set free

How humiliating to think I allowed it at all
But with no self esteem and the children so small
I decided to stay and take what I got
But since they’re all grown I’ll get a new shot

In my mind I’ve been able to separate my life
The old one filled with darkness and strife
The new one filled with such goodness and joy
Too precious to ever let a person destroy

I may spend the rest of my life all alone
For mistakes that I made I am trying to atone
The comfort I find with my four legged friends
Give me all the love I need while I make my amends