In advance

Seventy five dollars
stood between the kids
and a real meal
Seventy five dollars
to pay the bills
Seventy five dollars
I didn't have
wouldn't have
not until payday
not on the new job
not for weeks anyway
The new job
I didn't yet have
The one
I was standing in the doorway for
So I asked a stranger
Ma'am may I?
Please may I
have seventy five dollars
In advance?
She wrote a check
like it was no matter
It was to me
A matter of desperation, that is.