Tree Stumps

Ian Walters

Can fathers and sons relate
Without digging up tree stumps together?
Sharing shovels, shifting mud and tempers,
Well it takes a couple real stubborn roots to make it work.

Without digging a tree stump,
Father won’t lever his point.
It takes a couple real stubborn roots to make it work, and
Without a fight, they won’t make any headway.

But he can’t ever lever his point
With his goddamn lazy kid of a son.
Without a fight, they won’t make any headway,
Because it takes real men to dig out that stump.

Well this goddamn lazy piece of a son,
He never heard a man dig like his dad.
He knows what it is to dig out that stump,
And knows that soon, he’ll dig alone.

He’s never heard a man dig like his dad.
Sharing shovels, shifting mud and tempers.
Now, he digs alone—and he damn well realizes
How fathers and sons can relate.