I’m overmatched, undermanned. I’m trying hard to understand.

Crushed beneath an ounce of hope and flattened by your heavy hand.

I know you’re giving it your everything. You’re letting me down.

You say she’s gone for the good of all of us and so I should

Be thankful for the life that lies ahead, and be it understood:

That I have everything. Well, everything is letting me down.

You say in love we tend to hide. We lose ourselves. We die inside.

Devotion takes the place of self-reliance; soon will follow pride.

And that is why I cannot listen to you, grandma, not now.

I never lost myself at all. I may have slipped; I didn’t fall.

I never hid. I didn’t die. My pride’s intact. I’m standing tall.

I gave it everything til everything was letting her down.

I don’t know if she understands, or ever will

But I know that we’re better off, and better still:

I hear that she’s laughing more than she had been

So I know that her bitter heart is sweet again

May it put your mind to rest: My worry lies with her. Invest-

-ing all she had in someone so alone is not the healthiest.

Not that I grew, not that I thrived beside a woman so sour.

Oh, I had more to give, I know. I guess I just assumed she’d low-

-er certain expectations given life had flung me too and fro.

And it was all that I could do to stop from shutting right down.

I should have told her, I confess: your bitter heart is such a mess.

In every little drop of blood--an ounce of love; a pound of stress.

She never mentioned I was something that was weighing her down.

I don’t know if she understands, or ever will

But I know that we’re better off, and better still:

I hear that she’s laughing more than she had been

So I know that her bitter heart is sweet again.