Harder Cards

Well, a hammer fell down on a 44 Primer
Now there's one less problem in South Carolina tonight
Wrong or right

She just looked to me as she finished her tale
The blank expression went another shade of pale of gray
There was nothing to say

In the shadows of her face I saw the scars
That you get when you live where love is hard
And she said

"Don't you sit and judge me from some high and mighty seat
Don't you shrug it off until you've walked a mile in my bare feet
There are people that you pass by every day
With harder cards than yours in life to play"

Well, I put the cuffs on her, and I sat her in the car
Walked inside, he was layin' on the floor stone dead
He's been shot in the head

There's whiskey bottles and dope by the chair
Starving baby with nothing to wear but tears
So the picture was clear

He had finally pushed her way across the line
And the badge I wore was losing all its shine
And she said

"Don't you sit and judge me from some high and mighty seat
Don't you shrug it off until you've walked a mile in my bare feet
There are people that you pass by every day
With harder cards than yours in life to play"

Now I just stood there thinkin' how justice is blind
But after 35 years, you learn to read the signs
So I made up my mind

I took the cuffs off her and I walked her back in
Wiped the gun off and wrapped it in his right hand
Where it should've been

And the morning paper read in black and white
It's just another senseless case of suicide
Suicide

Oh, but don't you sit and judge me from some high and mighty seat
Don't you shrug it off until you've walked a mile along my beat
There are people that you pass by every day
With harder cards than yours in life to play

Well, a hammer fell down on a 44 Primer
Now there's one less problem in South Carolina tonight