For My Beloved Mother

I see the flicker, the true flame,
The dimming star inside your eyes.
Help me remember; sing my name;
Remove the gray from my blue skies.

Oh, lead me back to sweeter days:

Be there to gently take my hand.

We'll cross the street into that haze,

And find a bright, enchanted land.

Don't fade away; don't break my heart!

Let's sing a song like long ago.

I'll find the harmony; you start.

Don't leave me, mother; come, we'll go

Into a storybook sunrise,

Unravaged by the hands of time.

Be psalms and odes and lullabies;

Be meter swift and weightless rhyme.

You are who you once were, and yet

It's clear to me you cannot stay.

The love you've spent is now a debt

I know I never shall repay.