Crimson Twilight
She’s up before the morning light,
Coffee cold by half past five,
Running circles through the chaos,
Keeping everybody alive. Bills and laundry,
work and dishes, Cats are begging,
mind on fire, Thinks if she stops for just one second Everything
will just expire. She hears the silence in the hallway,
Mistakes it for nobody caring,
But she’s too busy holding up the ceiling To notice love is
always there waiting.
Oh, mama, you don’t see
it,
You think you’re only needed when things break,
But Boris sees every little thing you do,
Every sacrifice you make.
And Leoni gives you the Gen Z
stare,
Some days her words are far and few,
But every version of her future Still looks a little bit like
you.
Leoni’s older now, she’s 14 iPad and locked bedroom doors,
Living halfway in her own world,
Scattered hoodies on the floor.
And her mother thinks she’s distant,
Thinks she’s failed somehow with time,
Doesn’t see the late-night messages: “My mom’s the reason I survive.” Meanwhile
Boris in the kitchen Making a big fat mess He dirties every
dish in the house How your patience he does test
Oh, mama, you don’t see it,
You think your love just disappears,
But Boris truly loves you
After all these trying years.
Leoni tells her friends “No one fights for me like she does,”
You were doing everything by yourself They forgot to say it was
because of you. Then one night the pressure cracked,
She thought, “Maybe I’m replaceable…” But Boris held her shaking hands,
Said, “Nothing here is possible Without the way you love us Even
when you’re running dry.” And Leoni cried beside him,
Saying, “Mom, you’re my whole life.” The room went quiet for a
moment, Years of hurt fell out like rain,
And for the first time in forever She let herself believe them
when they explained— Oh,
mama, now you see it,
Love was living in the smallest things,
In Boris waiting up beside you,
In the songs Leoni sings.
You were never just the tired hands Keeping every light switched on,
You were the heartbeat of the family
The whole time
all along