My Father

My father
Always promised us
That we would live
In France
We'd go boating
On the Seine
And I would learn
To dance

We lived in Ohio then
He worked in the mines
On his dreams like boats
We knew
We would sail in time

All my sisters
Soon were gone
To Denver and Cheyenne
Marrying
Their grownup dreams
The lilacs and the man

I stayed behind
The youngest still
Only danced alone
The colors
Of my father's dreams
Faded
Without a sound

And I live
In Paris now
My children dance
And dream
Hearing the ways
Of a miner's life
In words
They've never seen

I sail
My memories of home
Like boats
Across the Seine
And watch
The Paris sun
As it sets
In my father's eyes
Again

My father
Always promised us
That we would live
In France
We'd go boating
On the Seine
And I would learn
To dance

I sail
My memories of home
Like boats
Across the Seine
And watch
The Paris sun
As it sets
In my father's eyes
Again