How am I going to explain it to him
What am I going to say when it's something that grim
How the hell do you tell them there comes an end
How are you going it handle it and still be their friend
How do you explain this world we face
To all of the innocents we brought to this place

These and other questions stand in a row
And I'm not satisfied with the answers I know
What are you going to say to those eyes
I can't even get close to the lies
That are easier to tell, you just say oh, well
I'll explain it when he's older
But somehow that's colder than I want to be

I am uncomfortable lying to a child
Feels like building a trap for something wild
Feels like building your house on the sand
And expecting the ocean to let it stand

Somehow I must come up with better stuff
You see, I'm just not satisfied with all that simplified guff
That they shovel at the kids by the handful
Like candy they buy at the stand full
Of flags by the side of the road
It's not good for them to hand them that load of crap like they
do

You see, I want a world where I can tell him the truth
About everything from Jesus to John Wilkes Booth
How they lie in the House and the Senate too
Only get close to the truth when it suits them to
And the very next day
They're back to lying that way

Of course it doesn't seem to matter what I want
But I look at some of the faces all haggard and gaunt
I wonder which thing made them lose their dreams
'Cause mine is alive very much it would seem
And I would just like to be able to hand it to him
Without the light in his eyes ever getting dim
I want a dream for him