Once upon a time there was a girl

 In her early years she had to learn

 How to grow up living in a war that she called home

 Never know just where to turn for shelter from the storm

 Hurt me to see the pain across my mother's face

 Everytime my father's fist would put her in her place

 Hearing all the yelling I would cry up in my room

 Hoping it would be over soon

 

 Bruises fade father, but the pain remains the same

 And I still remember how you kept me so afraid

 Strength is my mother for all the love she gave

 Every morning that I wake I look back to yesterday

 And I'm OK

 

 I often wonder why I carry all this guilt

 When it's you that helped me put up all these walls I've built

 Shadows stir at night through a crack in the door

 The echo of a broken child screaming "please no more"

 Daddy, don't you understand the damage you have done

 To you it's just a memory, but for me it still lives on

 

 Bruises fade father, but the pain remains the same

 And I still remember how you kept me so, so afraid

 Strength is my mother for all the love she gave

 Every morning that I wake I look back to yesterday

 

 It's not so easy to forget

 All the lines you left along her neck

 When I was thrown against cold stairs

 And every day I'm afraid to come home

 In fear of what I might see there

 

 Bruises fade father but the pain remains the same

 And I still remember how you kept me so afraid

 Strength is my mother for all the love you gave

 Every morning that I wake I look back to yesterday

 And I'm OK

 

 I'm OK