They did their best 

To pull my arms 

Through the sleeves 

Of my black wool dress 

In this ungodly heat


They led me down the hall 

We passed your room on the way 

I found the place you'd taken your crayons to the wall 

And I could still hear me saying


I am your mother

why won't you listen to me? 

Be like your brother

come here and sit by me


I am bombarded by smiles 

Launched by faces I don't know 

And they hover for a while 

And I'm grateful when they go


They'll drift back to their lives 

They'll change out of these clothes 

Husbands will cling to their wives

In the night

And they'll hold their children 

too close


And pray that 

they're not the mother 

To be the last one to leave 

Let it be any other, anyone but me 

?Cause I am that mother

why won't you listen to me? 

Be like your brother

come here and comfort me 

?Cause am your mother

And it should have been me

It should have been me

It should have been me