My Landlady

My Landlady

Mother, do you love me
Am I good enough
Just a breath in your doorway
Just another pile-o-stuff

Say, how can you love
What you’ve ignored
You’re less like a mother
More like a landlord

Perhaps the term is lady
But you’re not sweet or kind
You’re not evil either
Just forgetfully blind

No one taught you how to love
That’s the problem here
I do feel sorry for you
In that I am sincere

You’re mother was controlling
Of friends I’ve heard of one
Of people you hang out with now
I know of none

Daddy wasn’t the right man
And you can’t find another
What you’re yelling at downstairs
Could only be my brother

I won’t say that I hate you
But I lie when I say love
You’re the TV upstairs to me
The mute voices from above

You’re the smell of burnt food
Or “well done” as you would say
You’re the shadow that leaves at 7
And returns at 5 each day

You’re the hum of the engine
When the car stops in the garage
You’re the light beneath the door
Like the faintest of mirage

You’re the alarm at 4 o’clock
And at 8 lights out, in bed
You always stand so quiet
Like there’s hushes in your head

You’re the hand that pays
When the house is clean
You’re the specter that wanders
Mostly unseen

You’re the one who pays the bills
Gets the food, drives the car
But that’s all you do
To me that’s all you are

You’re human and I know it
You do you’re best like anyone
But you’re not there when the day starts
Or when it’s finally done

You’re not there in the middle either
But for three hours a day
We’re in the same waking home
With not a word to say

You have your TV, my dearest landlady
And nothing will take away that
You mumble of politics and work
Whenever you try to chat

When you talk, all I hear
Is the latest kink in your day
Why something’s not working right
Why something’s in disarray

Cure your tongue
Spice up your mind
You have a life
Don’t leave it behind

But blank eyes just stare back
Slightly green, a little brown
I’ll never get a smile
I’ll never get a frown

That’s my dearest landlady
Like the trees in the yard
We’re both quiet on the outside
And inside we’re scarred

You’re the one who pays the bills
Gets the food, drives the car
But that’s all you do
To me that’s all you are.