“Mother’s Day”

 

c. 2024 Rod Ice

All rights reserved

(5-24)

 

 

Note: While thinking about this special day, I got a blast from one of my friends. that offered a dark contrast. She had been rejected by her own mater around the age of eight years old. So, when this day arrived for remembrance, my cohort confessed that she felt nothing. I could not process that groove personally, but had a flash of Lou Reed or Iggy Pop to let those emotions fly free... I wrote these lyrics after our conversation ended.

 

Mother’s Day and she’s not here

Her daughter barely remembers

Got shipped up their road around the age of eight

No one speaks of it now

Mother’s Day and she’s long gone

No pictures on the mantle

My friend says, ‘Hold on, I’m playing it straight!’

She abandoned me with a kiss on the brow

Said bye, bye, bye

Said bye, bye, bye

 

Mother’s Day, not the same for all

My friend is numb to the meaning

She only remembers a few days out on the lawn

Dancing in the sprinkler spray, cool and wet

Mother’s Day, it’s a time for joy

But not when you were a jewel she wouldn’t wear

Not when she wanted to be gone

Not when she wanted to forget

She said bye, bye, bye

She said bye, bye, bye

 

Mother’s Day, I can’t hear this side

Of a story so foreign and wrong

But that’s the jingle on my telephone this morning

I get it like a poke in the ear

Mother’s Day, I want to shout and sing

Yet there’s a drag on the bumper hitch

“Don’t mention that bitch!’ she gives me a warning

It makes me well up with tears

Mom said, bye, bye, bye

Mom said bye, bye, bye

 

Mother’s Day, darkness on the horizon

That’s not the way it should be

I want my friend to feel the blessing of her birth

But that got crushed like a dried-up flower

Mother’s Day, I’m all warm inside

Remembering childhood and a touch of grace

But this wild, wandering, natural quirk

Stalls me in my finest hour

Said bye, bye, bye

Said bye, bye, bye

 

Mother’s Day, I’m so sorry friend

The gift given didn’t take

You got recycled like a party favor, unwanted

Sat in front of the boob tube, empty and blank

Mother’s Day only brings it back

That sense of being in line too long

This celebration leaves you feeling undeniably haunted

A fish stuck on the riverbank

Said bye, bye, bye

Said bye, bye, bye

 

Mother’s Day, I would hold your hand

But I’d get a slap in return

That kind of comfort ain’t your vibe, I know

You’d rather get stoned and drift away

Mother’s Day is a time to chart

A course through one life, unintended

Here and now caused to churn and explode

An echo of finality and fate

Said bye, bye, bye

Said bye, bye, bye

 

Mother’s Day, I won’t mention it again

Until hanging up the phone line

My heart aches, but I won’t confess that fact

I know she would only turn pale and grim

Mother’s Day, and that vessel of gold

Tarnished too quickly, like brass

Went from shades of lavender and pink, to black

Her patience worn too quickly thin

She said bye, bye, bye

She said bye, bye, bye