Oh Mama No - Vienna Teng

All day

One long tethered motion:

Sweep, stir, sow

This is her kingdom

An inheritance that you can’t deny

Oh Mama no, oh Mama no

Oh Mama no I will

Come down, child

From your gates and connections

Sleep, slur, slow

This is where you come from

The anchor that you can’t leave behind

Oh Mama no, oh Mama no

Oh Mama no I will

So Mama learns your tribal lingo

Tolerates the time between calls

Catalogues the years and makes a note of all your endless goings-on

When her sentences start to repeat

And her voice in the night is reaching —

Oh Mama please don’t leave me

And then one day

In the boxes upon boxes:

Grieve, give, go

Maybe you can learn how —

If you never feel the dark, never see the light

Oh Mama no, oh Mama no

Oh Mama no I will

Oh Mama no, oh Mama no

Oh Mama no I will

Oh Mama know, oh Mama know —

Mama you know I will