I remember growing up loved like it was only yesterday
Mum and daddy tried their best to guide me on my way
But the hard times and the liqour drove easy love away
And the only love I knew about was hard love
It was hard love every hour of the day
When Christmas to my birthday was a million years away
And the fear that came between them drove the tears into my play
There was love in daddy's house but it was hard love
I recall the gentle courtesy you showed me as I tried
To dissemble in politeness all the love I felt inside
But for every song of laughter there was another song that cried
This ain't no easy weekend this is hard love
It was hard love every step of the way
It was hard to be so close to you and hard to turn away
But when all the stars in the sentimental songs dissolve away
There'll be nothing left to sing about but hard love
So I'll love you for your courage and your gentle sense of shame
And I'll love you for your laughter and your language and your name
And I knew it was impossible but I loved you just the same
Though the only love I gave to you was hard love
It was hard love it was so hard on you I know
When the only love I gave to you was love I couldn't show
You forgave the heart that loved you as your lover turned to go
Leaving nothing but the memory of hard love
So I'm standing in this phone booth with a dollar and a dime
And I'm wondering what to say to you to ease your troubled mind
For the Lord's cross might redeem us but our own just waste our time
But to tell the two apart there's always hard love
So I'll tell you that I love you even though you're far away
And I'll tell you how you changed me as I lived from day to day
And how you helped me to accept myself and I won't forget to say
That love is never wasted even when it's hard love
Oh it's hard love but it's love all the same
It's not the stuff of fantasy much more than just a game
And it's the only kind of miracle that is worthy of the name
For the love that heals our lives is mostly hard love