Do you know what love is, Mother, do you know?
And can you tell me how to find it, where to go,
how I'll know it if I find it, does it show?
Oh, do you know what love is, Mother, do you know?

Daughter, love has many faces, you will see.
Just think how I love you and you love me
and how we love your father both and then how he
loves us, and you will know what love is, do you see?

Is that the whole of love then, Mother, nothing more?
What if tall young men come calling at the door?
What if someone says he loves me, is he sure
of what he says or just pretending, nothing more

Two things you need to know, my child, only two -
if what he says to you is really true,
and then, if you love him, how much he means to you.
But  oh, if there is nothing  you can do !

But if we loved each other, what could interfere?
Belonging to each other year by year
our love would be too strong for us to fear
that anything could part us, surely that is clear.

Love is not so simple, child, as you may find
if love as passion conflicts with love that's kind,
if your heart's yearning still cannot be blind
to how you'd hurt the loved ones that you'd leave behind.

Now I don't understand you, mother, do you mean
that love can cause you pain, can intervene
in happiness - has that ever been?
Mother, is that a kind of love that you have seen?

Yes I know what love is, darling, how I know,
breaking my heart to love him yet to let him go.
Quickly, come and kiss me, dear, and let me show
how much I love you. There. Now off you go.