28.The Ring

When we were kids
We'd lay awake at night
And listen to my mom and dad talk
About money when times were tight

My mom would raise her voice
My dad wouldn't say a thing
He'd walk outside, turn on his workshop light
And he'd work on a ring

My dad earned the soldier's medal
And the Purple Heart in Vietnam
He learned how to make jewelry
To ease his mind on the ship back home

The war left him changed
He never said a thing
Every time he thought about it
He'd work on the ring

For my mother, he made a ring
For my mother, he'd do most anything

A quiet man with words unspoken
Proved his love could not be broken
Out of a half dollar
My father made my mom a ring

We watched him through the window
As he worked one afternoon
He held the silver half dollar in his hand
As he tapped the edges with a spoon

When I asked my dad if he was mad
He never said a thing
It seemed to ease his troubled mind
As he worked on the ring

For my mother he made a ring
For my mother he'd do most anything

A quiet man with words unspoken
Proved his love could not be broken
Out of a half dollar
My father made my mom a ring

Every holiday we gather round the table
As my dad prays
And when we close our eyes
Sometimes I think my dad cries

And those words left unspoken
I've come to understand
What's kept our family together
Is worn on my mother's hand

For my mother he made a ring
For my mother he'd do most anything

A quiet man with words unspoken
Proved his love could not be broken
Out of a half dollar
My father made my mom a ring

Out of a half dollar
My father made my mom a ring