LITTLE BOSEPHUS
WRITER HANK WILLIAMS

Little Bosephus, you’re the one, makes me feel good inside
Just to know that you’re my son makes my heart swell with pride
I’ve always needed one like you to love and understand
Now that you’ve come to fill that place, you’re my buddy, man to man
There comes a time when every boy grows so cocksure with life
So that he feels he knows it all and no longer needs advice
The complicated phase of life is called “adolescent age”
And sometimes breaks a father’s heart---wish you could skip that stage
I’d like to help you fill your heart with kindness, faith and truth
Protect you from the hands that reach out to destroy manhood and you
There is so much sorrow and despair to blight the hearts of men
And the more we learn of love and life, the more they come crowding in
It’s just little things at first, my son, then, as we grow older
Our troubles grow much bigger too and sometimes, they overflow
The poisoned minds and broken hearts will cause strongest men to weep
Overwhelm souls with bitterness and death would be so sweet
So we must build a strong defense of love and fortitude
On character and knowledge, son, so these ills cannot intrude
Ah, Sonny boy, so many things a youngster needs to know
If he is to find true happiness as down through this life he goes
It’s just a father’s love, I guess, that comes to every Dad
That makes me want to shelter you from things that make you sad
Bosephis, boy, I’m standing by to help you when you call