1. I have a grandmother who has mercy on me
She leaned over me more than my father did

2. And everything that delighted me
Would be my way

3. If my family got angry at me
They all did, but not her

4. My father walked up to me one day
With the stride of a disciplinarian

5. Angry and having threatened to hit
And that he would actually hit

6. So I found no refuge from him
Other than my grandmother as an escape

7. She put me behind her
So I would be safe with her and hide

8. And she said to my father
In a reprimanding tone

9. Oh, woe to him, woe to
This tortured boy

10. Did you not use to do
What you do, when you were a child