Pittsfield

I'm not afraid of you now

I know so I climb down from the bunk beds this low

I can talk back to you now

I know from a few things that I learned from this TV show

You can work late til midnight; we don't care

We can fix our own meals, we can wash our own hair

I go to school before sunrise in the cold

And I pulled the alarm and I kicked up the salad bowls

Since the time we meant to say much more

Unsaid things begin to take their toll

After school we shovel through the snow

Drive upstate in silence in the cold

You can remind me of it

That I was lazy and tired

You can work all your life

As I'm not afraid of you anymore

If I loved you oh a long time

I don't know if I can recall the last time you told me so

Here in this house in Pittsfield

The ghost of our grandmother works at the sewing machine post

Hiding the bills in the kitchen, on the floor

And my sister lost her best friend in the Persian Gulf War

There was a flood in the bathroom last May

And you kicked at the pipes when it rattled, oh the river it made

Stand there, tell me that I'm of no use

Things unspoken break us if we choose

There's still time to wash the kitchen floor

On your knees, the bath, the sink once more

You can remind me that I was tired

You can work late and do yourself honor

Now that I'm older, wiser and working less

I may regret having left the place a mess

You can remind me

That I was lazy and tired

You can work all your life

As I'm not afraid of you anymore