Elmhurst Queens Mother’s Day

Lyrics

Sun is coming up over the bay Everywhere everything has changed The only sound is wind in the trees, New York City's far from me Sun is coming up over the bay Friends back home tell me nothing is the same That city symphony just stopped that day The crowds, the life, the energy Are just sirens now through empty streets My silenced hurting city far away These days there is no work for me And I don't know if there will ever be As remote lives keep moving on, I sit down to write this song In this refuge from that storm far away And it's far away, far from me Far away from me Then I read about a nurse's day in Queens In cotton scrubs, she is the infantry Trenches painted in fluorescent light Weaponless soldiers in the fight I read about a nurse's day in Queens She's wearing the only mask that she can find She knows that they will all get sick in time She's telling the writer all the things they need, with the president lying on TV Her oath was not for her family to die Endless lines of those who won't be saved Dying in plastic chairs as they wait When she gets home won't hug her kids Writes her will like her friends all did Falls asleep in her living room chair again I'm making dinner, sun is going down Sun will be setting over New York town They'll be cheering soon on my empty street A brief reprise of that symphony In the city where I became a wife Where my mother was born, where I've made my life And though i won't be there to cheer along Oh, I can sing this song For that nurse, and for my city, my home