The Portrait

THE PORTRAIT
Amanda McBroom
McBroom Music (BMI)

There's a picture in a silver frame
Hanging dusty on my wall
And two people with their eyes the same
Holding daisies, I recall
And the baby in the sailor dress
And the pigtails, that was me
And the other was my mother
On our Easter by the sea

People tell me that I'm just like her
And I wonder what they see
She was lady in lace and cameo
Not the gypsy that is me
She spent her evenings making poetry
I spend my nights makin' time
And I wonder, am I living
Partly her dreams, partly mine?

What would she think of the too many men
The lies I get lost in again and again
The tears in the morning
And the booze and the blues in the night?

It's been years now since I've seen her face
Heard her footsteps on the stair
But just lately, in my dreams at night
I will call her and she's there
Lookin' pretty like she used to
Before time and tears tore her apart
And she tells me that she loves me
And she leaves me in the dark

Mama, don't leave me
Mama, don't go
You know the answers
To all I don't know
My dreams come up empty
And my heart's lyin' dead on the floor

Mama, don't leave me
Mama, please stay
Mama, I need you
To show me the way
I'm lost and I'm lonely
And I can't find my way anymore

Mama
Mama
Mama