Nine months to the day,
decided my en tire fate.
I know when I've been blessed,
holding close to my breasts.
and rocking hours in a rocking chair
and life is seeming pretty fair
even though we could have used a sleeve
the moments moved too fast
to keep first steps flew right from my arms
it was keeping up with the
dragging yarn
left from a blanket
that felt so safe
when nothing else could take its place
And not letting go on the
first day of school
While I was the first
to sign up for the carpool
Bringing home a colored valentine
Asking me, you be mine?
But knowing one day
one would steal that heart
And I think that'd be the hardest part
just knowing one day
I'd have to let go of a blooming flower that's
gotta grow see daisies come back every year
but then oh but a dandelion
must blow to the wind
some just have to be set free
depending on what they
wanna be from a
Baseball hit high up on a tee,
Then sliding in and wounding a knee.
You're sitting high up on a bleacher,
Well, I heard the coach say,
You don't need her.
But back home,
we know what makes it well.
Yes, it's already better, I can tell.
Why, I think you will run again.
Why, as fast as the lightning and wind.
As fast as the fever rose high.
The time we stayed up half the night.
Cool rags on a rosy face.
That night that I learned to pray.
From a chair where I awoke,
oh, I had leaned over,
and the fever had broke.
Well, I have seen the mercy unfold
in my praying arms I hold.
Holding out for that day that comes
of staying out too late
and having too much fun.
Mom, do you think I could use a car?
Well, I promise not to go too far.
No, don't go far.
And don't stay late.
So tell me the name of your date.
Oh, just look at you standing
there blushing with him.
You haven't been anywhere
I haven't been.
Now they sat together graduation day.
And they said their goodbyes.
Now they're going their own way.
One off the college to major in,
while the other had enlisted in.
Enlisted in just to be someone,
was recruited well by the one,
Left holding on to the smoking gun,
that I placed in the hands
of my own son.
Cause we were barely getting by
Sure the grades were good,
but they weren't that high
But a GI bill would surely pave the way
For the monthly bill
that I did well to pay
And as we did well to get
up on our own
No we didn't have much,
but it was a loving home
I remember the day we moved in.
Oh, it seemed so small back then.
But now it's filled with
the saddest of sounds.
And the silence is just screaming
out loud.
Turning my world inside out.
Outside where I ran out.
Ride out the blue into
the darkest of nights,
as the red ran right from all life.
Least the stars will shine
bright tonight,
over my angel all dressed in white.
This old flag is all I have to show for it
It don't wave no more,
it's folded up in a drawer
But I take it out every now and then
Just to wrap myself up in
Before I can put it back again
It reminds me of where I've been
Mark Stuart
