Genesis - Me And Virgil lyrics

Ma would never say what happened And we knew better than push too hard We knew we had all the chores to tend to Like fixing fences and helping her Washing dishes and making coffee Me and virgil'd chop some wood But we'd stop our swinging Just to listen to her crying It didn't sound too good I can remember, too well But we never thought to pay much heed We learned to live life the best we could But then one day pa upped and left us High and dry without a word Seemed a pity My ma was pretty But i soon learned life ain't that way And i can remember hearing her weeping While we were sleeping next to her I can remember I'll never forgive and i'll never forget Cos pa you broke her heart Ooh pa you broke her heart You broke her heart Ooh pa you broke her heart Well the years rolled by And 'fore we knew it Our sister got married and moved out west I stayed with ma, cos i couldn't desert her I knew it would hurt her to be alone So we pulled tighter We said we'd try to make things easy And raise a smile But as the night came We'd hear her crying Praying for pa to come back again I can remember I'll never forgive him and i'll never forget Cos pa you broke her heart Oh pa you broke her heart And then the winter came I'd never known it colder Ooh it seemed the worst for years And the night she died i swear i saw her smiling Saying i was a big boy now, no tears So i packed up all we had, and virgil got the horses And we paid our last respects and gave the whip a crack Ooh, seemed a big bad world, we were riding into Me and virgil both agreed, we best head off And don't look back Nothing but desert all around Oh it made me wonder Lord it's hard to carry on When you're sick with hunger Weeks and months of sleeping rough Keeping clear of danger Seems we were miles from anywhere And too far gone to change it We'd best keep going, don't look back Well me and virgil we beat the desert Riding fast and riding hard We hit the city, the past behind us So we raised some hell, we had some fun But real soon i met a lady oh so pretty, and oh so fine 'fore too long i found myself married With a home of my own and a blue eyed son And 'til this day i can hear ma saying to me - "you're a big boy now"