Mother’s Day 17 years ago was the last two-way conversation I had with my mother. She’d been diagnosed with lung cancer in December 1994 and by April of 1995 it had metastasized to her brain. By May 14 she was somewhat weary from chemotherapy and radiation, but had looked forward to the Mother’s Day holiday. We had all gone to Mass that Sunday morning. Two of my three sisters had traveled from Washington DC to spend the holiday with her and I’d driven down from Michigan. With my two brothers and my dad and assorted grandchildren, she was able to celebrate Mass the same seats we’d occupied as a family over the course of many years in the Parish. After Mass we’d gone over to one of my brothers’ homes for brunch. With all the pandemonium at the house and excitement from earlier in the day, Mom was exhausted and had gone back to one of the bedrooms to lie down and rest. I took my guitar in to her room and asked if I could sing a song for her. “I wasn’t able to get you a gift,” I told her, “but I have a song for you.”
I proceeded to play a song that I had written for her back in 1978. I had found a poem that she had written for her mother 40 years earlier and set it to music. When I’d first played it for her, she’d cried and told me how beautiful it was. “It is beautiful,” I agreed. “They’re the words you wrote for your Mother back in 1938.” She had been astonished, and I think a bit pleased. I was pleased myself, as “Mama’s Song” turned out beautifully and to this day is a favorite of mine. So playing it for her again, tears again rolled out from her tired eyes.
“I love this song. It always connects me to my mother.”“And it connects me to you and to her.” I agreed after I finished, laying my hand gently on her bald head.
A little over two weeks later my mother died. She had suffered a stroke, a result of the cancer, and after lingering nearly a week, she passed out of this life. I was so happy to have sung for her that last time when she could hear and appreciate it. My sister Ruth and I sung, “Mama’s Song” at her funeral. It was beautiful, two of her daughters singing about the love that exists between mothers and daughters. My daughter and I now sing the song together, connecting her to me, to her grandmother, and to her great grandmother. And so it goes. Seventeen years later, I still miss my mother, though not as acutely as I had during those early years. I am grateful to have had her in my life for as long as I did, though surely wish I could’ve had her with me longer, especially to have seen her grandchildren growing up in to such fine young people. Still, I like to believe she watches over us and still smiles when she hears me singing her song. I’ve included the words to the song below. I had intended to record it and post it, but spent all day working today and was unable to get at it. Perhaps tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy these 74 year old words.
Mama’s Song
As time chalks off another year and adds it to the pastLet us take a moment now to look at memories that last
At times we have spent together
At the joys both great and small
At the little incidents we’ve shared
From the time that I was small
Then too there are the troubles that we faced as one, not two
We would laugh to keep from crying as a mother and daughter often do
And now there is between us
A bond of love so fine
That no power on earth could change it
Over countless periods of time
Oh Mama, there are no words to express this feeling that I have for you
Well it’s very warm and bright and lovely but above all else it’s true.
Our memories may number many
But to me they’re all too few
I’ll always thank God in his kind ness
For giving me someone like you.
© M. T. Chamblee, 1978
© M. T. Chamblee, 2012
