There's a boy with pretty hair warm like a sunset

And a smile that slays

There's a boy with a sarcasm in his words

And an shield of iron humor on his arms to hide the heart in his hand that is tucked behind his bloody knuckles.

There's a boy at war with his mind and his body

Fighting the impulses that are threatening to consume the serenity in his limbs and lips.

There's a boy with freckles covering every inch of his Irish existence, one mark on his skin for each time she told him that she couldn't do it anymore, that she needed to make the pain stop.

And another for each time he held their mothers hand and told her it would be okay till he had no strength left to squeeze and no voice left to speak.

There's a man with a laugh loud enough to force the corner of the stiffest lips to turn up with glee.

There's a man with broad, chiseled shoulders with the strength of an ox to balance the heavy burdens of many.

There's a man with a kind and wise voice that vibrates the soul

Awakening the hearts that have been in deepest of hibernations

And rough calloused fingers that pull away the cobwebs from the eyes held tightly shut

Out of fear that they will see they have been left alone in the darkness before finding the light

There was this boy, there is this man that ignites every nerve in my body with a grace of his presence.

That boy, this man nourishes the caterpillars in my intestines propelling them into a metamorphosis and forces the butterflies to relentlessly kiss the lining of my stomach

This man makes these lyrics soar through my fingertips and reverberate through my soft lips and dance through the air