My Father

My father always promised me
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, in time

My sisters all grew up and went away
To Denver and Cheyenne
Marrying their grownup dreams
The lilacs and the man

I stayed behind the youngest still
And I danced alone
Hoping of my fathers dreams
Someday, take me home, take me home

And I live in Paris now
My children dance and sing
Words of a miners tongue
Language they've never sing

I sail my memories of home
Like boats across the Seine
And watch my fathers eyes, watch the setting sun
It sets in my fathers eyes again