If theres one thing that I know   It is the 2 shades of hope   One the enlightening soul   And the other is more like a hangman's rope   Well it's true you may reap what you sow   But not that despair is the all time low   Baby, hope deals the hardest blows      There was once someone I loved    Whose heart overflowed his cup   And his shoes got covered in blood   Oh but he never knew cos he only looked up   Well he was in trouble and so   Had known pain more than most I know   Yet it was hope that dealt the hardest blows      And the girl that holds the hand   Of her somewhat distant man   Though she did everything she can   Still his heart set sail for distant lands   And she wonders sometimes if he knows   How she feels like a trampled rose   Baby, hope deals the hardest blows      Well some people think their sin   Caused the cancer thats eating into them   And the only way that they can win   Is by the healing of somebody's hands on their skin and praying   But when the cancer does not go   Baby, hope dealt the hardest blows      And now all these truths are so   With foundations below them   They were dug out in a winter's cold   When the world stole our young and preyed on the old, well   Hope deals in the hardest blows   Yet I cannot help myself but hope      I guess that's why love hurts   And heartache stings   And despair is never worse   Than the despair that death brings   But hope deals the hardest blows, dear   The hardest   Hope deals the hardest blows