You Built the Wall

I love you, hate you Mother, so tender yet so cruel
You strangled me with kindness as you dressed me up for school
You ordered me to run before I learned to crawl
And when I lost the will to live you helped me build the wall

I love you, hate you Father, your courage and your fear
Your picture on the mantlepiece, the smell of coins and beer
I heard your footsteps on the staircase, I heard you arguing in the hall
So late at night I used to hide safe behind my wall

You built the wall
You built the wall
You built the wall
You set me up to fall
With concrete and manure and mortar you made sure that no light came in at all
You built the wall, you built the wall, you built the wall

I love you, hate you teacher, all your statues made of sand
You brought me up correctly and struck me with your hand
You wounded me with knowledge, through winter, summer, spring and fall
Shivering in the heat and cold, my back against the wall

So where are all those people now, those men and women straight and tall?
My parents and my torturers, responsible for it all
There must have been a reason they left me home without a key
A prisoner of fear, the only gate was locked on me, locked on me, locked on me

I'm a victim of their jealousy, I'm the man they scarred for life
Confounded by the roles they played, crazy husband, crazy wife
I'm the iron masked stranger in the corner of the ball
Bound and gagged in misery and trapped behind my wall

You built the wall
You built the wall
You built the wall
You set me up to fall
With concrete and manure and mortar you made sure that no light came in at all
You built the wall, you built the wall, you built the wall