Meager Leavings

Meager leavings
I was so afraid
Of the constant edge that my mother gave
I inherit it
From her pale, white face
Rough from disappointment and a cold hard age
Oh, the things that she has seen
And because of it, so have I
With her own two eyes
Which are now sadly mine
I hold her frustration in my arms, in my chest
Because I’ll never fully know her, I can never rest

Stranger that birthed me
Leave me unnerving
Swallow my years as well as this anger
Where does the time go?
I was a child once

It doesn’t scare me, us looking back
‘cause the only truth I’ve known is from my past
Our lonely father
Wonder where he’s at
Sometimes, I’ve wrung my hands in prayer
It’s killed the effect
Oh, how you cling to your psalms
Clutched in your palms
I cry in near prayer
To pronounce your tragic prose
To confuse faith with labor is to let your kill linger

Stranger that birthed me
Leave me unnerving
Swallow my years as well as this anger
Where does the time go?
I was a child once
It doesn’t scare me
Us looking back

Stranger that birthed me, leave me