Seventy Springs

We stopped counting candles, Mama We're counting springs instead First on the street with daffodils, every single year Sun hat on the gatepost, gloves worn through and dear You sang us lullabies you half made up — we know them all by heart And the lectures that we rolled our eyes at — turns out you were right Seven decades in the soil of this family And look at everything that grew Seventy springs, Mama, seventy springs Every one of us your garden, every bloom The back door never locked because someone might come home And we always, always did — we came home to you Happy birthday, Mama Here's to seventy springs — and more You measured out our childhoods in jam jars on the shelf Kept every macaroni necklace like it was wealth Now your grandkids run the same yard, trampling the beds And you laugh — you say that's what a garden's for Seven decades in the soil of this family And look at everything that grew Seventy springs, Mama, seventy springs Every one of us your garden, every bloom The back door never locked because someone might come home And we always, always did — we came home to you Happy birthday, Mama Here's to seventy springs — and more The daffodils don't know your age They just know you show up every March So do we, Mama — so do we Seventy springs, Mama, seventy springs And the whole yard's gathered here in bloom for you The back door's standing open, the kettle's nearly on And everything you planted came home true Happy birthday, Mama Here's to seventy springs — and more Blow them out slow, take your time Spring's not going anywhere — and neither are we