The Life of a Man

I once knew a man much older than I am
Who grew in a world where a man was a man
He worked all his life, with his hands, in a factory
And he tried, how he tried, just to be a good man

When he was younger his parents were so proud
They nurtured, with care, their new little man
And comic-book stories, friends and relations
All helped to show him the ways of the man

They taught him to fight but to never get frightened
Keep a lid on your feelings, be brave little man
Don’t show your tears to the eyes of your enemies
‘Cos it’s kill-or-be-killed when you’ll be a man

Well maybe you think that you already know him
Maybe you think that you’re wise to this man
But stop for a moment and hear his full story
What it was like when they made him a man

The fighting, the torment, the sad isolation
The pain that’s inflicted by man upon man
There’s no room left for the warmth and the closeness
So much between brothers is lost to the man

But he passed to me all the love he could muster
Through the sensitive arms of a hard-working man
‘Cos he knew in his heart of the pain in the old ways
And he offered his children a new kind of man

So I won’t let you blame him for what was done to him
By a world that insisted that he be a man
And I’ll stand beside him, I’ll treasure and guide him
Together we’ll search and we’ll find a new man

So the next time you see him act out the old ways
Remember what went into making this man
Try to see past all the pain and the anger
Try’n get in touch with the love in that man

‘Cos he’s more than a tool in the rush for production
He feels all the feelings that all people can
And he don’t want to kill, or be killed like the old days
‘Cos there’s no need for hate in the life of a man