I never asked
He never said
And now it’s too late
The old fella’s dead

I should have phoned
If only to say
“How are you Dad
How goes it today?”
But work and a family
Cut short the week
And I did not make time
To call him and speak

I never asked
He never said
And now it’s too late
The old fella’s dead

He could have told us
How nice it would be
To sit down and natter
With my family
To tell us he loved us
And often each day
He’d wonder how we were
At work and at play

I never asked
He never said
And now it’s too late
The old fella’s dead

I should have asked him
What life was then like
When most of their transport
Was feet or a bike
How families lived
In streets back to back
And fires-when they had them
Sent smoke up the stack

I never asked
He never said
And now it’s too late
The old fella’s dead

Schooling now finishes age one and eight
And maybe for longer with help from the State
But his schooling ended when he reached fourteen
And then in the work queues he’d daily be seen
I wonder how he felt when called up for war
A call from his country he could not ignore
What were his feelings of terror and fright
From noise and explosions all day and all night

I never asked
He never said
And now it’s too late
The old fella’s dead

So if you’ve a father
Take time out today
To ask “Do I know him”
Or will he just stay
One of the old folk who lived yesterday