Mother Hums the Ending

Lyrics

[Intro: detuned music box, tape hiss, no vocals]

[Verse 1: soft female vocal, close and tender]
Hush now, my darling, and blow out the light,
The bolt's on the door and the house is shut tight.
I've counted the stairs, I've counted the rooms,
There's nothing in here but the dark and the moon.

Chorus: gentle lullaby, slow waltz
If you hear me singing from out in the hall,
That isn't me, darling, that isn't me at all.
I sing with my hand resting soft on your hair,
And I hum the last verse — those words stay out there.
Mm, mm-mm, mm… mm, mm-mm, mm…

Verse 2: quieter, a little uneasy
It listened all winter through cracks in the floor,
It learned every song that I know, and one more.
Last night it was under us, tonight it's the wall,
Tomorrow it'll stand at the end of the hall.
It's had my voice perfect since early in spring,
But it doesn't know, darling, which part I don't sing.

Chorus
If you hear me singing from out in the hall,
That isn't me, darling, that isn't me at all.
I sing with my hand resting soft on your hair,
And I hum the last verse — those words stay out there.
Mm, mm-mm, mm… mm, mm-mm, mm…

Bridge: whispered, almost no music
There's a verse to this song I have never once sung,
I keep it locked up behind teeth, under tongue.
It's the sweetest part, darling — it sounds just like me —
And the night that you hear it, it won't be me.

[Instrumental: music box slows, winds down, stops]
three slow knocks

[Verse 3: same voice, doubled, detuned, distant, from the hallway]
Ivy, oh Ivy, come out to the stair,
Mother's come home and there's rain in her hair.
Ivy, oh Ivy, you've waited so long,
Come open the door, love, and finish the song.

[Final Chorus: children's choir joins, layered, dissonant, swelling]
If you hear me singing from out in the hall,
That is me, my darling, that's me after all.
I sing with my hand resting soft on your hair,
And I'll sing you the last verse — the words are all here.
That is me… that's me after all…
That is me… that's me after all…

[Outro: spoken, a small child, barely a whisper]
…Mother hums the ending.

long pause

[Spoken: the mother's voice, warm, too close]
Of course I do, darling.

hummed, slightly off-key, cut off
Mm, mm-mm, mm—

End