Whitey

Whitey

Mama said you had the moonglow,
but everyone knew you were albino.

When the old man got drunk
down at the bar and beat you
to erase his mistake, you didn't cry.

After he split and Mama went to the bar
and spread her legs to catch a man who'd feed us,
the kids at school yelled, Hey Whitey!
Who'd your mama fuck last night?
Pink-eyed and pale, you charged them,
but they just laughed and threw you
down to scrub your face in the sand.
Still, you didn't cry. You never cried.

Then when Mama froze on the asphalt,
too drunk to find the car ten feet away,
we went to school the next day
'cause we didn't have nothing else.
You stood in the hall, your head down,
and your fists balled-up in your pockets
while they screamed that Mama
was nothing but a whore anyway.

And as you used your shirt-tail to wipe
the tears from my cheeks,
I gazed up, hoping you'd
rub through to my moonglow.