Hard Love (Bob Franke) I remember growing up like it was only yesterday Mom and Daddy tried their best to guide me on my way But the hard times and the liquor drove the easy love away And the only love I knew about was hard love It was hard love every hour of the day When Christmas to my birthday was a million miles away And the fear that came between them drove the tears into my play There was love in daddy's house, but it was hard love I recall the gentle courtesy you gave me as I tried To dissemble in politeness all the love I felt inside And for every song of laughter was another song that cried This ain't no easy weekend, this is hard love It was hard love every step of the way Hard to be so close to you, so hard to turn away And when all the stars and sentimental songs dissolved to day There was nothing left to sing about but hard love So I love you for your courage and your gentle sense of shame And I love you for your language and your laughter and your name And I knew it was impossible but I loved you just the same Though the only love I gave to you was hard love It was hard love, it was hard on you, I know When the only love I gave to you was love I couldn't show You forgave the heart that loved you as your lover turned to go Leaving nothing but the memory of hard love Now I'm standing in this phone booth with a dollar and a dime Wondering what to say to you to ease your troubled mind For the Lord's cross might redeem us but our own just waste our time And to tell the two apart is always hard love So I'll tell you that I love you even though I'm far away I'll tell you how you change me as I live from day to day How you help me to accept myself, and I won't forget to say Love is never wasted even when it's hard love It's hard love, but it's love all the same Not the stuff of fantasy, but more than just a game And the only kind of miracle that's worthy of the name For the love that heals our lives is mostly hard love Recorded by June Tabor on Angel Tiger Recorded by Claudia Schmidt on New Goodbyes, Old Hellos Recorded by Bob Franke on "One Evening in Chicago"(Flying Fish Records) Copyright (C) 1982 Telephone Pole Music Publishing Co. (BMI) used by permission MC
Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!