Pride and the pallor

Papa had a wife and kids he kept them on a leash
and he bid them all to do his every deed.
When he was a kid, he was treated just the same,
so he hid his feelings from his family.
Lost as an island out at sea,
resistant to the gentle waves of empathy.

Papa and his family always on parade
tearing through the turnstiles, a weekender's charade,
but time will tell, as their world crumbles to hell
what they created...

Was a family story no one will tell,
it's a photo album too terrible,
but the pride and the pallor continue to swell
as the matron silently prays.

Junior resented the tradition they upheld
and it ate him up inside most every day.
Silence was golden and they kept him to his word,
so bewildered when he finally ran away.
Oh, obligations never cease,
oblivious of the ways to give his soul some peace.

Yeah, papa and his family always on parade
passing through the turnstiles, a weekender's charade,
but time will tell as their world crumbles to hell
what they created...

Was a family story no one will tell,
it's a photo album too terrible,
but the pride and the pallor continue to swell
as the matron silently prays.

"Get me out of here, someone's got to save the day",
the children are reminded to do it for the daddy's sake
and happiness is ever so far, far away.

Yeah, lost as an island out at sea,
impervious to the gentle waves of empathy.

Papa and his family always on parade
tearing through the turnstiles, a weekender's charade,
it's just a sick calamity that fatherhood made,
but time will tell, as their world crumbles to hell,
what they created...

Was a family story no one will tell,
it's a photo album too terrible,
but the pride and the pallor continue to swell
as the matron silently prays.

(You know the rest.)