June Tabor - Hard Love lyrics

I remember growing up like
It was only yesterday

Mom and Daddy tried best to
Guide me on my way

But the hard times and the liquor
Drove the easy love away

And only love I knew about was hard love

It was hard love, every hour of the day

When Christmas to my birthday was
A million years away
And the fear that came between them
Drove the tears into my play

There was love in Daddy's house
But it was hard love

And I recall the gentle courtesy you
Gave me as I tried

To dissemble in politeness all the
Love I felt inside

And for every song of laughter
Was another song that cried

This ain't no easy week-end
This is hard love

It was hard love, every step of the way

Hard to be so close to you
So hard to turn away

And when all the stars and
Sentimental songs dissolved today

There was nothing left to sing
About but hard love

So I loved you for your courage
And your gentle sense of shame

And I loved you for your laughter
And your language and your name

And I knew it was impossible
But I loved you just the same
Though the only love I gave
To you was hard love

It was hard love, it was hard on you I know

When the only love I gave to
You was love I couldn't show

You forgave the heart that loved you
As your lover turned to go

Leaving nothing but the memory of hard love

So I'm standing in this phone booth
With a dollar and a dime

Wondering what to say to you
To ease your troubled mind

For the Lord's cross might redeem us
But our own just wastes our time

And to tell the two apart is always hard
Love

So I'll tell you that I love
You even though I'm far away

And I'll tell you how you change me
As I live from day to day

How you help me to accept myself
And I won't forget to say

Love is never wasted
Even when it's hard love
Yes it's hard love, but it'slove all the same

Not the stuff of fantasy but
More than just a game

And the only kind of miracle
That'worthy of the name

For the love that heals our
Lives is mostly hard love