pretty, young single mother   Buddy and Bean   loving, yes...the Brady Bunch, not quite   we would fight   well, they would   I would keep it inside   some of the time   peacemaker   proud   pleading   "don't get too loud, mom   just sing quietly to me..."      even when she was screaming   I'd know when we got home   like a deaf man laughs, like a blind man smiles   she would sing to me   and show me her heart   beautiful and strong, she's my Mom      angering, desperate stranger   proud young man   which of the two depended on whose eyes   I was right, I was so sure   I was so doing just fine   "then why lie?"   no answer   she kept asking   "don't ask so loud, mom   just sing quietly to me"      even when I was greedy   bleeding myself, holding hurt   like a deaf man laughs, like a blind man smiles   she would sing to me   showed me my heart   beautiful and strong, she's my Mom   and she's loud      Iaman, a boy with brass hair and stone eyes   arms small but strong   from holding back   holding up   holding on too long   alone in my room   my nightlight shines on my idea   my thoughts cover up my ears      but sometimes a memory just gets too loud   sometimes I wish I had a Dad around   I wish that he were here to see my tears, but...   sometimes the greatest ideas come from fears   and she's here   and the way that she sees me   better than my eyes sometimes   like a deaf man laughs, like a blind man smiles   she still sings to me   shows me her heart   beautiful and strong, she's my Mom