A Candle for My Boy

He was eighteen, and taller than me,

Stood at the gate in his new khaki,

His mother fixed his collar,

said, "Mind how you go,"

He winked, "I'll be home,

Mum, before the first snow." Then a man at our door with

his cap in his hand Said the words that no parent should

have to withstand,

She lit a white candle in the window that night,

Said, "He'll need to find his way home in the light."

A candle for my boy,

in the window glowing low,

Through the rain and the frost and the long winter snow,

The whole street could see it,

and the whole street knew why

— A candle for my boy,

and she'd never say goodbye.

I told her, "Love,

you've got to let go,"

She'd just trim the wick and she'd whisper,

"I know."

Forty-odd years, and she'd not

miss a night,

Through the power cuts,

through the winter's bite,

And I'd grumble and tease,

but I'll

tell you what's true

— Some nights I'd sit in the dark with it too.

A candle for my boy,

in the window glowing low,

Through the rain and the frost and the long winter snow,

The whole street could see it,

and the whole street knew why

— A candle for my boy,

and she'd never say goodbye.

Now she's gone, and the house is so still,

There's a box of white candles on the kitchen sill,

And every night, as the streetlights come on,

I strike one for her,

and I strike one for our son,

And I like to think,

on the night that she passed,

She followed that light,

and she found him at last.

Two candles for my loves,

in the window glowing low,

Through the rain and the frost and the long winter snow,

The whole street can see them,

and the whole street knows why

— Two candles for my loves,

and I'll never say goodbye.

A candle for

my

boy...