I was amid my boyhood full
The first I knew of love –
And she, wrapped up in sadness
That I couldn’t understand

I yearned to try to help her, but
I didn’t know the way –
And love was neither
Passionate nor grand

But just a glow inside an ache
That longed to be expressed –
A girl in Christmas clothing, who
I wanted to see smile

The first I knew was only that
I had so much to learn –
And no amount of
Posturing or style

Would ever help me over
To the side where she was lost –
A violent home, I knew
In later years

I was amid my boyhood full
The first I knew of love –
And she was marked by pain
And full of tears

I see her in the twilight snow
The way I knew her then –
Although I’d no idea
What made her sad

The first she knew of love
Was that it always seem to hurt –
And that not every father
Is a dad