One Can Only Dream

The first years are easy, when love is all you need

A woodstove, a kitchen, a little bourbon, a little weed

A woman who loves you, a baby on your knee

And a reckless belief in the things you can't see

But like every good story when act two arrives

We encounter the limits of our everyday lives

And the woman who loves you begins to have doubts

And the child needs more than what you can give out

Two makes a difference

Three makes it seem

The whole world is a wonderland

And you're living in a dream

Two exchange the presents

Three makes the scene and

It's a wonderful life

But one can only dream

And the walls start to close in when the money runs low

You do what you can do but there's nowhere to go

The mill isn't hiring, the print shop's been sold

It's now a full service Starbucks or so I was told

So you start with the habits they instilled from your birth

You pray to a heaven that you can't see from earth

And when your prayers don't get answered, when no angel appears

You blame yourself for their suffering, the cause of the tears

And where is the magic, when miracles cease

When you can't keep the promise, when you can't find the peace

What is Christmas, to a man who is lost

Whose value is less than what the effort might cost

I made another mistake when I took a look back

As I walked down the driveway and faded to black

I saw my little girl's face, her eyes filled with pride

In a father whose faith in himself had just died

There is no Christmas story that I could ever contrive

That would fill up the whole that I Ieft in her life

So won't you grant me wish on this cold Christmas Eve

Take me backward in time so I can choose to not leave