Mama's Cleaning

That was the day we played all day outside And ride imaginary stick horses around Shooting and shouting as if our lungs was rawhide It was in imagination that the fun abound That was the day the house seemed in disrepair Furniture and boxes all out of place Chaos reigned while mama cleaned everywhere Leaving germ and dirt without a trace. I thought of mama today as I watched you clean Remembered how we would wipe our foot On the little mat, but mostly could not dare go in As if we were the grime or the cause of soot Food would only come when mama took a break But not before dark and howling belly turned Play into night, and after the yard was swept and raked Something about you in mama I'd discerned. What was all that cleaning just to be clean, I ask Or was it a search for something missing here What deeper motive had the highly honored task What coin, or sheep, or son hid behind the tear What golden fleece or grail to you both have been lost I know mama cleaning searched for meaning here As if sin was something we could see like life's dross As if to seek was the magic bullet for man's despair. O something about you remind me of mama, my dear And childhood comes rushing back in floods Two sparse rooms and five pieces of furniture there While we chased butterflies from dying buds You are different though, for you have allowed us in Watching our eyes to tell you of missing spots But we just laugh and tell long tales while you clean Life is too short to search or go connecting dots.