I can live with the sky falling out from above I can live with your scorn, your sourness, your smug I can live growing old alone if push comes to shove But I can't live without my mother's love I can live flying around at an impossible pace I can live with the bad etiquette that's fallen on this place I can live with anything you got to throw in my face But I can't live without my mother's embrace My mother is seventy-five She's the closest friend I have in my life Take her from me, I'll break down and bawl And wither away like old leaves in the fall You can be cruel all you want, talk bad on my brothers Shoot me full of holes and I won't be bothered Judge me for my ways and my slew of ex-lovers But don't ever dare say a bad word about my mother
When she's gone, I'll miss our slow easy walks Playing Scrabble with the chimes of the grandfather clock I'll even miss the times that we fought But mostly I'll miss being able to call her and talk I can live without watching the cla**ical fights I can live without a lover beside me at night I can live without what you might call a charmed life But I can't live without my mother providing her light My mother is seventy-five One day she won't be here to hear me cry When the day comes for her to let go I'll die off like a lemon tree in the snow When the day comes for her to leave I won't have the courage to sort through her things With my sisters and all our memories I cannot bear all the pain it will bring