Two Shades of Hope - Live

If there's one thing that I know
 It is the two shades of hope
 One, the enlightening soul
 And the other is more like a hangman's rope
 Well it's true, you may reap what you sow
 But note that despair is the all-time low
 Baby, hope deals the hardest blows
 There was once someone I loved
 Whose heart overflowed his cup
 And his shoes got covered in blood
 Oh, but he never knew 'cause he only looked up
 Well he was in trouble and so
 Who'd known pain more than most, I know
 Yet it was hope that dealt the hardest blows
 And the girl that holds the hand
 Of her somewhat distant man
 Though she did everything she can
 Still his heart set sail for distant lands
 And she wonders, sometimes, if he knows
 How she feels like a trampled rose
 Baby, hope deals the hardest blows
 Well, some people think their sin
 Caused the cancer that's eating into them
 And the only way that they can win
 Is by the healing of somebody's hands on their skin and prayin'
 But when the cancer does not go
 Baby, hope dealt the hardest blows
 And now all these truths are so
 With foundations below them
 They were dug out in a winter's cold
 When the world stole our young and preyed on the old
 Well, hope deals in the hardest blows
 Yet I cannot help myself but hope
 I guess that's why love hurts
 And heartache stings
 And despair is never worse
 Then the despair that death brings
 But hope deals the hardest blows
 Dear, the hardest
 Hope deals the hardest blows