Tommy swung a brush hook for the county all last year Now he sits in some dark pool hall, Pulling on a long necked beer On one hand's tattooed the word"" On the other hand there is "hate" He lights a smoke and rubs the scars on his knuckles His wife is living here on borrowed time She needs a place to call her own Tommy's out; she can't stay here Where she once called home The marks of his "too-perfect" love are a shadow on her face She shakes and waits beside him in the darkness Never felt so lonely as when lying in his bed The fear that lay between them The brutal words he'd said No more of flinching from his hands No more of living with this fear She's bought her ticket, she's made her plans He's not worth another tear She says she knows it's wrong But while he's gone she sometimes misses him The feeling comes too often Stays too long, like phantom pain from a missing limb She knows she's safer on her own Thank God there were no kids But had there been she till would Find a way to leave him Morning can't come too soon for her She's up before the dawn Tiptoes past him, locks his door Waits out on the lawn She looks back at the silent house As the windows start to glow And with her finger writes "Good-bye" Upon his windshield