Every day I'm up at work To try to make ends meet To see that we would meet Keep those shoes upon my feet Every night my papa would take me And tuck me in my bed He'd kiss me on my head After all my prayers were said There were years of sadness and of tears But all together we were strong We were strong The times were rough But papa he was tough And mama stood beside him all along Growing up with them was easy Time just flew on by The years began to fly They aged, so did I I could tell that mama wasn't well Papa knew and deep down so did she So did we But when she died Papa broke down and he cried And all he could say was God why her, take me Every day he sat there sleeping In his rocking chair He never went upstairs Because she wasn't there Then one day my papa said I'm proud of how you've grown He said go out there and make it on your own And don't worry, I'm okay alone He said there are things you must do Places you must see His eyes were sad as he As he said goodbye to me Every time I kiss my children Papa's words ring true He said children live through you And they grow, they leave you too I remember every word Papa used to say I kiss my kids and I pray That they'll think of me that way Someday