Mom
By Randy Duey Bruder Schweigen

My Mom is not on my side.
I know which side shes on.
She is not concerned with big ideas-
Good and evil, right and wrong.

I have no doubt she loves me,
And I love her in return,
Never measuring how much love
Her love for me should earn.

My Moms not anti-social.
She obeys a million laws.
Ask why shes so pliant
And shell answer, "Just because."

Theres no end of her submission
To mans disciplining rod.
But watch how fast she stiffens
When her orders come from God.

My Mom wears mental blinders
To keep her eyes from seeing.
She does not want to think of
What she is capable of being.

She rarely looks around her
Or wonders how or why,
But ambles through her numbered days
As if nothing meets her eye.

My Mom believes in government
With all her heart and soul.
She pays her taxes cheerfully
And lives her servile role.

Shed never point a finger
Nor register a doubt,
Much less offer interference
Or demand an account.

My Mom is plugged into TV;
She has watched since she was young.
Her mind is a thin, blank volume
Opined at page one.

She goes through stacks of novels,
Digesting one a day.
She picks them with attention
To what little they have to say.

I remember when she sat me down
And taught me what to do.
I loved her words, but those precious times
Were long ago, and few.

I dont know how it happened,
But her head was turned around.
She lost a mothers confidence
When the system wore her down.

As I matured and chose my way
I tangled with that Beast.
And when it won and locked me up
My hatred just increased.

My Mom was broken up, she said
I had shamed the family name.
But I looked beyond her faithlessness:
I knew who was to blame.

And now I need to sit her down
And help her find her way.
But I am in here and shes out there,
Not listening anyway.

My Mom has drifted far from me
In search of sirens song.
I hope she wont forget the way,
But it may have been too long.

My Mom reminds me of my Race
A pack of fools, I know.
But they are the only ones Ive got
And I love em, even so.

They are not doing very well right now;
You would almost think they have died.
But Ive got memories of both
That swell my heart with pride.

Now Im the son of all of these,
With many ways to go.
But, thanks to God, decision time
Has come and gone, and so

I am not done tangling with that beast,
Though locked up I may be.
God knows the hell they are gonna pay
For stealing Mom from me.