"Broken Teeth and Blackened Eyes"

She picks herself back up,
retrieves the tooth from the floor,
tastes the blood from her busted lip,
hears him slamming the door;
she didn't do anything wrong,
nothing to deserve this,
and yet he demonstrates his love
at the end of a fist.

This is the second tooth
he's knocked out this past week,
all because she spoke up
when he told her not to speak;
she would probably cry
if she only had the tears,
this is just the way he is
when he's had too many beers.

When will this be over?
Will it ever come to an end?
she dreads every morning,
for she knows he'll start again;
first will be the yelling,
later will come the boom,
of his exploding anger
filling up the very room.

So she closes her eyes
and waits for what is to come,
he tells her she'll never be anything,
he says she is too dumb;
and when she doesn't answer,
that's when his hackles rise,
her world is only broken teeth
and cruelly blackened eyes.