In a small town where all knew all
Wandered a peasant lady nobody knew
But her only friend was a young boy
Brought her hot tea and leftover stew
In those burning wintry Decembers
He'd pick dirty pennies up off the cold street
And while his mother was out Christmas shopping, he’d say
"Come on in, warm your feet."

"As long as you share with me stories."
So she spoke, "I'm a product of war
My mother never knew who she could be
As my father lay drunk on the floor."
And she spoke of the cart that she wheeled
Had keys with no locks and guitars with no strings
And a puzzle that could never be finished
"This is my home, these broken things."

Ah, but the boy went on to be taught in the schools
To not talk to strangers and "Don't feed the fools."
Grew older and further and of her, forgot
As she was forced to move from lot to lot to lot

She said, "I guess it was much in his nature
To become an enforcer of law
My old friend’s got a gun to protect me
From the rock-tossing drunks from the bars
Always seemed like the sort to help others
So I'll find him while he's on the beat
And say 'Remember me? I'm the old lady
You'd give me pennies you'd find on the street.'"
When she found him, she saw not the young boy
Who dug for the roots of her junk
She came face to face with a stern vacant soldier
Grinnin’ and spinnin’ a club
He said, "Don't you know that you can’t be here?
You'll hurt business and scare away the kids
Go wander around in some other town
Get out, or I'm takin' you in!"

"But officer, I fondly remember you
The young boy who would give me the leftover stew
Would take me inside to the warm fire coals
And those hundreds of pennies bought me all these clothes."

It’s against the law to peddle
It's against the law to eat
It's against the law to have nothing more
Than the shoes full of holes on your feet
And now they put bars across the park benches
So I guess it's illegal to sleep
"They buried something inside of you, officer
Into your cold heart dig deep

And you'll see
That it's me
And here I'll be
Nothing new to me
I'll be heartbroken and cold
Frozen and alone
My coffin was a dumpster
And they didn't even know."

But while out on the beat
He looked down to his feet
And he saw a dirty penny
Heads up on the street

And it made him think of an old tall tale
Of a woman who pushed ‘round a cart
And the boy who fed her and helped her
Knew he should have deep in his heart
Oh, where did he hear that old tall tale?
But hey, what a story to spread
So he told it to his own growing boy
Once in a while before bed