Mother & Father
Madonna Lyrics

There was a time I was happy in my life
In the past, I experienced joy and happiness in my life.

There was a time I believed I'd live forever
I used to have the belief that I was invincible and would never die.

There was a time that I prayed to Jesus Christ
During a certain period, I turned to Jesus Christ in prayer.

There was a time I had a mother, it was nice
I had a mother at one point, and it was a pleasant experience.

Nobody else would ever take the place of you
No one could ever replace or fill the void left by my mother.

Nobody else could do the things that you could do
No one else possessed the same qualities or abilities as my mother.

No one else I guess could hurt me like you did
Although painful, only my mother had the power to hurt me in a particular way.

I didn't understand, I was just a kid
As a child, it was challenging to comprehend why my mother hurt me.

Oh mother, why aren't you here with me
I miss my mother and wish she were still alive and with me.

No one else saw the things that you could see
My mother had a unique perspective and insight that no one else possessed.

I'm trying hard to dry my tears
I am making an effort to stop crying and move on from the past.

Yes father, you know I'm not so free
My father is aware that I am burdened by the loss of my mother and am not entirely free from its effects.

My mother died when I was five
My mother passed away when I was only five years old.

And all I did was sit and cry
My initial response to the loss of my mother was to sit and cry.

I cried and cried and cried all day
My grief was intense and prolonged, lasting an entire day of crying.

Until the neighbors went away
I continued to cry until the neighbors could no longer bear to remain in proximity.

They couldn't take my loneliness
My neighbors were unable to tolerate my sense of isolation and abandonment.

I couldn't take their phoniness
I found their attempts to provide comfort false and disingenuous.

My father had to go to work
My father was obligated to continue working despite the family tragedy.

I used to think he was a jerk
As a child, I saw my father as unfeeling and uncaring.

I didn't know his heart was broken
I failed to understand that my father was experiencing his own pain and heartbreak.

And not another word was spoken
The family did not communicate openly about their grief or struggles.

He became a shadow of
My father's personality and demeanor were drastically altered.

The father I was dreaming of
My father's behavior after my mother's death did not meet my expectations of how a father should act.

I made a vow that I would never need
As a result of my painful childhood experiences, I resolved never to rely on someone else emotionally.

Another person ever
I decided that I would never permit myself to be vulnerable to another person in that way again.

Turned my heart into a cage
My emotional walls and self-imposed isolation trapped my heart and prevented it from fully experiencing emotions and connections with others.

A victim of a kind of rage
My response to my mother's death resulted in a deep sense of anger and frustration.

Find someone that I can care for
I recognize that I need to find a healthy outlet for my maternal instincts and care for another person.