You Said, 'Don't you ever go near girls, son,
Or your ears will be bitten off.
If you are wicked,
God will surely put your eyes out.
Stop pestering me for candies:
They'll upset your stomach.
Remember, I had bought you
For a winnow of bran.'

The lies you had told me, Mother,
When I was young!
Why have you stopped
Telling them now?
Incorrigible as you are, don't tell me
You have lost interest.
Or, do you suppose I can now
Do without your lies?
Perhaps, you believe, only the government
Can tell lies to grown-ups.

Mother, you have stopped feeding me,
But please don't stop lying.
For if you do, to whom
Will your son turn
To be smothered with lies?