Ways to Love

Our mother made us into swimmers
She threw her babes into this river
Full of mud and dense with weeds
A century of odd debris
We learned to fight and learned to love

Our breaths were short, we shared them with our brothers
We learned new games under the covers
How to laugh and how to grieve
We learned to trust, we learned to leave
We found this water's deeper than we'd guessed

We had learned enough ways to love
Still I don't know, mother, who we are

Our minds were sharp, our bodies burning
We gave ourselves over to learning
How to break and how to give
Betrayal taught us to forgive
We stretched and soaked up everything

They taught us well, we were first in our classes
We learned to see through many glasses
How to sink and how to fly
We learned to watch each other die
My God, this course is harder than we thought

We had learned enough ways to love
Still I don't know, mother, where we are
We thought we were walking the way to love

Our mother made us into swimmers
She threw us straight into the river
Our minds were sharp, our bodies burning
We threw ourselves over to learning
Dear God, this current's stronger than we thought

We had learned enough ways to love
Still I don't know, mother, who you are
I thought I was well on my way to love

Do we have time to take a nap?
The house is on fire, the sky is falling
Baby get back, get back
This is your mother calling

Do I have time to take a nap?
The sky is on fire, the house is falling
Baby get back, get back
This is your mother calling

Do we have time to take a nap?
The house is on fire, the sky is falling
Baby get back, get back
This is your mother calling

Do I have time to take a nap?
The sky is on fire, the house is falling
Baby get back, get back
This is your mother calling