I got sent home from school one day
With a shiner on my eye
Fighting was against the rules
And it didn't matter why
When dad got home I told that story
Just like I'd rehearsed
Then stood there on those trembling knees
And waited for the worst
And he said, "Let me tell you a secret
About a father's love
A secret that my daddy said
Was just between us"
He said, "Daddies don't just love their children
Every now and then
It's a love without end, Amen
It's a love without end, Amen"
When I became a father
In the spring of eighty-one
There was no doubt that stubborn boy
Was just like my father's son
And when I thought my patience
Had been tested to the end
I took my daddy's secret
And I passed it on to him
I said, "Let me tell you a secret
About a father's love
A secret that my daddy
Said was just between us"
I said, "Daddies don't just love their children
Every now and then
It's a love without end, Amen
It's a love without end, Amen"
Last night I dreamed I died
And stood outside those pearly gates
When suddenly I realized
There must be some mistake
If they know half the things I've done
They'll never let me in
And then somewhere from the other side
I heard these words again
And they said, "Let me tell you a secret
About a father's love
A secret that my daddy
Said was just between us
You see, daddies don't just love their children
Every now and then
It's a love without end, Amen
It's a love without end, Amen"