Well it’s that time of year, yes it’s come once again
When children don backpacks and run to their friends
The friends they’ve not seen since the summer first came
The day mothers dream of to keep them all sane
You don’t want to say that you’re happy about it
You try to seem sad but once home you quite shout it
“The child is gone! Now my life’s mine once more!”
You think of and miss the girl you were before
You go to the gym, and you take several classes
You get your teeth fixed, and you order new glasses
You shop til you drop, then you shop yet again
You lunch with your lover, have tea with your friends
And all the while thinking if only, if only
School were all year long, you’d never be lonely
You’d spend all your time on yourself and your wants
Take in the sites, eat at restaurants…
You’d certainly not be at every ballgame
Cheering him on as he made the crowd scream
You’d be far too busy to go to the pool
Or watch his first high-dive cuz he’d be at school
You’d be too important to do all those crafts
Your humor too grownup for fart jokes and laughs
The movies you watched would be foreign and deep
Not cartoon heroics for matinee cheap
The dates that you’d have would not need the word “play”
You’d sleep in all morning and lounge ‘round all day
You’d be too important for bike rides and zoos
Or picnics or sunburns, it’d be about you
You’d miss out on lost teeth and new roller skates,
You’d miss all his growing and silly playdates,
You’d know not his friends or their parents and pets,
You’d never know how much he liked fighter jets…
You’d miss all those talks as you drove to the market,
You’d miss how the sun made his smooth skin grow darker,
You’d miss how he laughed as he hiked up the mountain,
You’d miss how he helped younger kids reach the fountain…
You’d miss how he chased daffodil fuzz and ran
With the dog down the road where he helped that old man
Bring in his trash can each Wednesday because
Your son is like you, knows the value of love.
If school were all year then your son would not know
Your selfless and kind love that makes his heart grow
I know that you’re tired, exhausted in fact
I know you’re relieved that your kid has gone back
To school where the teachers will watch over him
But try to remember you’ll blink, then open
Your eyes and before you can say “lollipop”
That tiring young kid will have grown himself up
And then you’ll sit there in your house oh so quiet
And wonder where time went, realize you can’t buy it
You’ll long for the days when you fell into bed
So tired with children, with a pounding head
You’ll think back and only the beautiful times
Will surface like minnows as they dart on by
And cold fall will come, and with it sweet loss
Of that tiring child you just wished to see off.
