My Father

My father always promised us
We would live in France
We’d go sailing 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 now I live in Paris
My children dance and dream
Hearing the story of a miner’s life
In words they’ve never seen
I sail my memories of home
Like boats across the Seine
And I watch the Paris sun
Set in my father’s eyes again
My father always promised us
We would live in France
We’d go sailing on the Seine
And I would learn to dance
La la la la …