Last week i attended a family affair And a few remarked upon my recent growth of facial hair You look just like your father did With that beard someone said I answered back i am him Even though my old man's dead I didn't want to be him Well at first i did When i loved & looked up to him As a little kid He sent me to his old school I was a numeral with his name And he gave me this gold signet ring And he wore one just the same And i guess that i believed him And probably it was true When he told me i was just like him That's what some fathers do But a father's always older And my dad was rather tall Who says size doesn't matter He was big & i was small I needed to be big enough To be someone someday And i learned i had to beat him And that was the only way I'm alive and he is dead And neither of us won It's spoiled for the victor Once the vanquishing is done A man becomes immortal Through his daughter or his son But when he fears his legacy A man can come undone And the beard is a reminder I'm a living part of him Although my father's dead and gone I'm his surviving twin