[First & second chorus]
There's a hole in the middle of the prettiest life,
so the lawyers and the prophets say.
Not your father nor your mother
nor your lover's gonna ever make it go away.
And there's too much darkness in an endless night
to be afraid of the way we feel.
Let's be kind to each other,
not forever but for real.

My father never put his parachute on
In the pacific back in world war II.
He said he'd rather go down in familiar flames
than get lost in that endless blue.
And some of that blue got into my eyes,
And we never stopped fighting that war
until I first understood about endlessness,
and I loved him like never before. (Chorus)

It's lucky that my daughter got her mother's nose
and just a little of her father's eyes.
And we've got just enough love that when the longing takes me,
well it takes me by surprise.
And I remember that longing from my highway days,
though I never could give it a name.
It's lucky I discovered in the nick of time
that the woman and the child aren't to blame.

[Third chorus]
For the hole in the middle of a pretty good life,
I only face it 'cause it's here to stay.
Not my father nor my mother nor my daughter nor my lover
nor the highway made it go away.
And there's too much darkness in an endless night
to be ashamed of the way I feel.
I'll be kind to my loved ones ,
not forever but for real.

[Final chorus]
Some say that God is a lover,
some say it's an endless void.
Some say both and some say she's angry,
and some say he's just annoyed.
But if God felt a hammer in the palm of his hand,
then God knows the way we feel,
And love lasts forever,
forever and for real.
Love lasts forever...

by Bob Franke © 1983 Telephone Pole Music Publishing Co. (BMI)