Mom wanted a different life for me,
A life of less servitude than her own,
And education would set me free.

Pretty and laughter-loving was she,
Shy; but her ideals were set in stone:
She wanted a different life for me

Away at college I buzzed like a bee
But spent my holidays reading alone,
For reading books is what sets you free.

To share my rich harvest she leapt to agree
For years of scrimping it helped to atone:
She’d wanted a different life for me.

In age I served her as she had served me,
But in the end she died on her own.
She’d wanted a different life for me -
And books and her death have set me free.