I'm not afraid of you now   I know so I climb down from the bunk bed this slow   I can talk back to you now   I know from a few things that I learned from this TV show   You can work late til midnight; we don't care   We can fix our own meals, we can wash our own hair   I go to school before sunrise in the cold   And I pulled the alarm and I kicked up the salad bowls      Since the time we meant to say much more   Unsaid things begin to take their toll   After school we shovel through the snow   Drive upstate in silence in the cold      You can remind me of it   That I was lazy and tired   You can work all your life   As I'm not afraid of you anymore      If I loved you oh a long time   I don't know if I can recall the last time you told me so   Here in this house in Pittsfield   The ghost of our grandmother works at the sewing machine post   Hhiding the bills in the kitchen, on the floor,   And my sister lost her best friend in the Persian Gulf War.   There was a flood in the bathroom last May   And you kicked at the pipes when it rattled, oh the river it made      Stand there, tell me that I'm of no use   Things unspoken break us if we choose   There's still time to wash the kitchen floor   On your knees, the bath, the sink once more   You can remind me that I was tired   You can work late and do yourself honor   Now that I'm older, wiser and working less   I may regret having left the place a mess      You can remind me   That I was lazy and tired   You can work all your life   As I'm not afraid of you anymore