Mother Sets Two Cups Out Anyway

Lyrics

She forgets the name of the street where we used to live
She forgets what she came to the kitchen to find
But at four o'clock the kettle and the biscuits and the tray
She remembers how I take my tea

Her fingers shake a little as she lifts the china down
The blue one with the chip that she has never thrown away
I reach to help and she says no, I've got it, dear
And I let her, because that is how I love her best

Some things the years can't reach
Some things live in the hands

Mother sets two cups out anyway
Steam is rising in the afternoon
She may not know the day, she may not know the date
But she knows the way I like it, and she knows that I'll be here soon
Mother sets two cups out anyway
And I sit down in the light
Older hands and younger hands around the warm blue china
Everything is almost right

We talk about the garden and the roses by the gate
She tells me the same story and I listen like it's new
And her laughter fills the kitchen like it did when I was small
And the clock above the cooker ticks us gently through

When the memories grow quiet, I will carry them for her
Every name and every birthday, every song she used to hum
She held me when I could not hold a single thing alone
Now I hold the tea, I hold the afternoon

Mother sets two cups out anyway
Steam is rising in the afternoon
She may not know the day, she may not know the date
But she knows the way I like it, and she knows that I'll be here soon
Mother sets two cups out anyway
And I sit down in the light
Older hands and younger hands around the warm blue china
Everything is almost right

Two cups, one afternoon
Everything is almost right