change

(Down the road from your memory track 3)

there was a change 

in the weather    robins

came out to sing

I tried to sing along

but the birds took wing

the grass was still wet

in the late afternoon

when you returned you said

I made it home somehow

from the daily toll your face was red

let me be a bird

I’ll sing to you    Mama

on your cheeks I see old tears

Mama    we can make it through

love is so simple    what is there to fear?

you said time is moving too fast

how could I already be so big?

you said you needed a nap

but didn’t want to close your eyes

afraid you’d wake and I’d have outgrown your lap

Mama    I’ve never seen you like this

if that job is eating you away

maybe we should leave this crescent

city and head farther west

leave the mississippi for someplace pleasant

where the birds don’t pause their song

I’ve heard of a place that’s always green

in school called Oregon