The All-American Ladies Choice

(for Dorothy and our child)

You know she missed her period and she missed graduation,
And she missed those wedding bells.
And her daddy s shot-gun missed the boy next door
Where he s gone nobody can tell.
It s a simple operation her sister recommends it
Her daddy s going to foot the bill,
It s the All-American Ladies Choice&
It s a legalized license to kill.

God help me Jesus, forgive what we ve done,
Did we murder a daughter, or a rambunctious bouncing son?
God help me, Jesus, please hear my voice
Forgive me& for making the All-American Ladies Choice!

The weary old world takes a couple rotations
And she marries someone new,
But every year round Mothers Day,
She s unaccountably blue.
Ten years later in a Frisco apartment
A cowboy tunes his guitar& .
He s been educated in the Land of the Free
That your songs reveal who you are.

He sings, God help me Jesus, forgive what we ve done,
Did we murder a daughter, or annihilate a rambunctious, bouncing son?
God help me, Jesus, please hear my voice&
Forgive me& for helping her make the All-American Ladies Choice.
1985

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