Anaïs Mitchell - He Did lyrics

Love you, love you, love you, he did, he did, he did He stood high above you, you were just a little kid Your daddy was a farmer, his back was burnished red and gold And every time he closed his eyes a rooster crowed He sowed a hundred rows of corn, the summer you were born And wondered what your life would yield How it feels to be a child of his, how it feels Your daddy was a builder, he swung his hammer brown and silver Every time he closed his eyes a nail was drove And you were always underfoot like a splinter in the wood He couldn't pull you from his heels How it feels, how it feels Love you, love you, love you, he did, he did, he did He stood high above you, sky around his head Sawdust in his hair, a scarecrow of a man He couldn't draw you near to him But you grew up straight and you grew up true And he kept a blue-gray eye on you Until the day he closed his eyes and left them closed Your daddy didn't leave a will, he left a shovel and a hole to fill And how it feels, how it feels How it feels to be a child of his How it feels to be alive like this But who gave you an axe to grind? Who gave you a path to find? Who gave you a row to hoe? Who gave you your sorrow? Who gave you the break of dawn? A pleasure just to look upon, who gave you a barn to build? And an empty page to fill