Mama - Rosalie Sorrels

This song is a response to the following part of a poem--"Song for Daughters"--by my mother, Nancy Stringfellow:

"No arms can hold you in a warm embrace

The place you want is not this place

You want the winds of time against your face

You want the wild rain falling

Outside, the cold stars shine

And you are theirs, not mine"

Mamma

Like some old gypsy woman
With her face turned toward the fire
I seek the truth in the eyes of these who hear
Truth lies in the eyes of a lover
Or of a fool or of a liar
And it trembles in the heart of a silent tear

[Chorus]
Mamma, you got it right when you said
No one would ever hold me
And I'd be walking on the wind till the day I die
But nobody ever bought me, Mamma
Nobody ever sold me
And I'm gonna stand until I fall
Life is to live, death canes to us all
And my friend, the wind, is teaching me to fly
And I can fl y, Mamma
I can fly

And the truth will always show you
More than just one face, my friend
And the faces will never stay the same
In the time it takes the earth to turn
Your very world might end
And you'd stand there naked and alone without your name

[Repeat Chorus]

The goldsmith showed me beauty
That comes from the heart of stone
She taught me how to hold my heart inside my eye
My mamma taught me
Not to be afraid to be alone
And I learned by myself that it cleans your soul to cry

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