|
|
|
My Father is Gone – © Richard Ruane 2003
In the coal mining hills of Pennsylvania My father grew up just above the mines But his father told him no You won’t be working down below Cause I won’t see you fall before your time
So my father had a job out at the railway Moving round the coal-filled railroad cars ‘Til one April afternoon My aunt came up to my room And told me there’d been trouble at the yards
My father is gone, he will not return. You can’t hold a life beyond its own turn Can’t hold back the night or hurry the dawn It cannot be changed, my father is gone
There were people in their suits down in the parlor And tall men come to shake me by the hand And a kitchen full of pies And my mother’s weary eyes And my uncle told me “Son, now be a man.”
But I dreamed that he opened his eyes That he opened his eyes And all was all right
|