mama's kitchen table

just a four by six slab of georgia pine, coffee stains cover up the chip in egg shell white, dad bought it new in 1982 and it ain't left that dining room, since it rolled off that sears assembly line, it was the start and the end of every day, hats off, heads down, who's turn is it to pray, gather 'round crying and laughing, more than just the biscuits we were passing, where i learned the words kids shouldn't say, and asked to be excused before you walked away, and all the life lessons you can't find on no label, they're right there around mama's kitchen table, it was built for six but there was never less than eight, it's held a lifetimes worth of my homework and homemade birthday cakes, and those cups i used to drink my apple juice had more than once been filed with booze, on the weekends when my folks went away, it was the start and the end of every day, hats off, heads down, who's turn is it to pray, gather 'round crying and laughing, more than just the biscuits we were passing, where i learned the words kids shouldn't say, and asked to be excused before you walked away, and all the life lessons you can't find on no label, they're right there around mama's kitchen table, around mama's kitchen table, yeah it's where i learned to hold and fold and raise, and how it ain't always about who wins the game, and all the life lessons you can't find on no label, i've had a seat right there since the day i left the cradle, around mama's kitchen table, around mama's kitchen table, it's just a four by six slab of georgia pine