A Father's Arms - Yonder Mountain String Band

The news it came to me as a surprise

And I knew that I would have to deal in time

And as the messanger walked right off the porch

A memory came to me from times before

I remember when my dad was called away

My mother put his pictures all away

And now the time had come for me to go

To my love my tears I tried not to show

With tear drops on my face

Thinking 'bout that old homeplace

Riding across the planes in the rain

The letters from my dad described the war

His food was canned, his boots they made him sore

And one letter from my dad spoke of a friend

Who got lost between the water and the land

Now I’m the one writing letters to my son

I’ll be home as soon as the fightin’s done

With my gun in hand I guess it’s hard to see

What it was that used to be inside of me

Today we moved in sight of the enemy

Though I didn’t even know what they had done

The general yelled to me, when I count to three

Get on your feet and start to run

That’s the last event I can recall

The tent was big but could not hold us all

Though I’ll never know what got the best of me

I swear I felt my dad looking over me