My Father's Tears

I've never had a feeling
Wash over me the way it did today
I was beaten and dumbfounded
Searched everywhere for words I ought to say
But my mind was just a vacuum
My body void of any sound advice
No words of comfort offered
He must have thought of me as cold as ice

But I have never before seen my father's tears
Never though all of my childhood years
And this man so strong now asks his son for his hand
I guess today's the day that he believes
His little boy to be a man

A constant source of comfort
A pillar standing mighty strong and tall
A man so sure and certain
So safe within his sturdy fortress walls
Now turns around and shows me
He's in need of comfort of his own
There is weakness in his armour
Defences made of paper not of stone

But I have never before seen my father's tears
Never through all of my childhood years
And this man so strong now asks his son for his hand
I guess today's the day that he believes
His little boy to be a man

I wish that I could tell him
The words he needs to hear
I wish that I could find a way to chase away his fears
The way that he has done for me so many times before
I wish that I could give to him the answers that I know he's looking for

So here I sit alone with me
A thousand miles from where I'm needed most
Distant voices down the telephone
Could never chase away his haunting ghosts
I write on scraps of paper
The words I wished I'd had the will to say
And I hope he understands sometime
The feelings deep inside of me today

Cos I have never before seen my father's tears
Never through all of my childhood years
And this man so strong now asks his son for his hand
Well I guess today's the day he believes
His little boy to be a man

I have never before seen my father's tears
Never through all of my childhood years
And this man so strong now asks his son for his hand
I guess today's the day he believes
His little boy
His little boy to be a man