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      (dream for him)