Fifty Years

Last year I turned forty and I didn’t miss a beat
Now it’s a year later and I’m down on my knees
Wonderig if I’ve failed / at what I’m supposed to be
And I’d sure like to know / just what he’d think of me

He was a colonel in the army in the second world war
He was a good American soldier, he knew what he was fighting for
And he made it safely home / but he died way too soon
Before he had a chance to see / what his kids and theirs would do


He looks straight at me while he’s hanging on the wall
Always a man of few words, that’s my grandpa
And even though I never knew him I believe he is my friend
And I’d give my Gibson to shake his hand and learn a little—about how to live

Now fifty years have passed and he still looks the same
Sitting at his desk in that wooden picture frame
And some nights when I’m alone / and I look up at him
I ask a few questions / that are on my mind again

And he looks straight at me while he’s hanging on the wall
Always a man of few words, that’s my grandpa
And even though I never knew him I believe he is my friend
And I’d give my Gibson to shake his hand and learn a little—about how to live