Children We Didn’t Have

[ADAM, spoken]
Barbara, maybe we should go. I mean, we’ve already lost so much

[BARBARA, spoken]
Adam, we never got the chance to lose anything

(sung)
Children we didn’t have don't call
Their heights aren't marked in pencil on the wall
They don’t ride bikes, cry out at night
Or falling graze a knee
And their arms will never reach
For the mother I never got to be

Children we didn’t have press in
Remind me that we couldn’t just begin
They laugh on swings, wish for things I’m not supposed to know
And they never stop to see, the mother that never was
That’s me

Think about all the children we didn’t have
Picture them playing in our life
Look at them deep in thought
Think of their face when caught doing something naughty
Now picturing them three or four
Picture them walking out the door
Picture them twenty or thirty or forty

Or maybe fifteen, I think you know who I mean
A daughter we didn’t have, moved in
Smart and sad, uneasy in her skin
Far too young to lose a mom
Or take the path she’s travelling on
If I could whisper in her ear, and tell her
“Daughter we didn’t have, I’m here”