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