Soon we'll count the rings inside all one by one Wondering if I could point to the place Where we first slept 'neath it's branches Oh oh Leaves once rose like an ocean we swam when we were boys This one was all things a mansion a fortress And as we matured it was shade for The secrets that we passed along But this oak has grown old wither-wrung It threatens to fall Better for us if the axe splits the trunk they say On your tip toes a ten-penny nail jutting high in the bark Relics of tree houses built and torn down Places we hid after dark oh Oh oh Please please lend some belief to this hard wasted ground Where little green soldiers and Indians fought This is the burial mound of My youth and my innocence This oak has grown old wither-wrung It threatens to fall Better for us if the axe splits the trunk they say Oh oh oh Better for us Better for us Better for us Better for us yeah Better for us Better for us Oh oh oh