Barbed Wire Boys

I come from The Rural midwest It's the land I love more than all the rest It's the place I know And can understand Like a false front building Like the back of my hand And the men I knew when I was coming up Were as sober as coffee in a Styrofoam cup There were Earl's and Ray's, Harlans and Roys They were full grown men they were Barbed wire boys They raised Grain and cattle On the treeless Fields Set up at the head of the table And pray before meals They prayed an our father And that was enough If you prayed more than that Then you couldnt stay tough Tough as The busted thumbnails on their weathered hands They worked the gold plate off their wedding bands And they never complained, No they never made noise And they never left home These Barbed wire boys Cause their wildest dreams Were all fenced in By the weight of family By the feeling of sin That'll prick your skin At the slightest touch If you reach to far If you feel too much So their deepest hopes Never were expressed Just beating like birds wings In the cage of their chests All the restless longings All the secret joys That were never set free In the barbed wire boys Now one by one They're departing this earth And its clear to me now Exactly what they're worth Oh they were just like Atlas Holding up the sky You never heard him speak You never saw him cry But where do the tears go That you never shed Where do the words go That you never said There's a blink of the eye There's a catch in the voice That is the unsung song Of the barbed wire boys