Stephen Schwartz — Hardest Part of Love

[JAPETH] Oh, Father, please don't make me choose Either way it's more than I can bear to lose [NOAH] Oh, this son of mine I love so well And ah, the toll it takes I'd give to him a garden And keep it clear of snakes But the one thing he most treasures Is to make his own mistakes, oh-h-h... He goes charging up the cliffs of life A reckless mountaineer I could help him not to stumble I could warn him what to fear I could shout until I'm breathless And he'd still refuse to hear, oh-h-h... But you cannot close the acorn Once the oak begins to grow And you cannot close your heart To what it fears and needs to know: That the hardest part of love Is the letting go As a child I found a sparrow Who had fallen from its nest And I nursed it back to health Till it was stronger than the rest But when I tried to hold it It would peck and scratch my chest Till I let it go And I watched it fly away from me With it's bright and selfish song And part of me was cursing I had helped it grow so strong And I feared it might go hungry And I feared it might go wrong, oh-h-h... But I could not close the acorn Once the oak began to grow And I cannot close my heart To what it fears and needs to know That the hardest part of love [FATHER] Is the letting go [NOAH] Is the letting go [FATHER] And it's only in Eden Grows a rose without a thorn And your children start to leave you On the day that they are born They will leave you there to cheer for them They will leave you there to mourn, ever so Like an ark on uncharted seas Their lives will be tossed And the deeper is your love for them The crueler is the cost And just when they start to find themselves Is when you fear they're lost, oh-h-h... [NOAH, FATHER] But you cannot close the acorn Once the oak begins to grow And you cannot close your heart To what it fears and needs to know [NOAH] That the hardest part of love [FATHER] And the rarest part of love [NOAH and FATHER] And the truest is part of love Is the letting go