I'm pretty sure the line is "our mother has been absent". Singular, not plural.
I've always seen this one as John and his sister, left to their own devices in the "Rome" of his stepfather's house, and the resentment they must have felt towards their mother for not protecting them from him.
"there'll always be a few things
maybe several things
that you're gonna find really difficult to forgive"
I'm pretty sure the line is "our mother has been absent". Singular, not plural.
I've always seen this one as John and his sister, left to their own devices in the "Rome" of his stepfather's house, and the resentment they must have felt towards their mother for not protecting them from him.
"there'll always be a few things maybe several things that you're gonna find really difficult to forgive"