The central conflict in the book: Son vs Father

Trust

Once I followed Daddy Jim
Way down in the valley
To the house of cousin June
Right next to the cemetery.

I found a marble block
And hid myself behind,
For he looked strange when he left
And didn't know I heard.

He had said he was going down
The hollow to Tom Mast's store,
But he took the path to town.
I thought he was lost for sure.

So I tagged along behind
And now I was hiding,
For I was greatly afraid
That somehow he would spy me.

Then he came out with Em, June's wife
And they snuck to where I was,
No more than ten feet in clear light
So I know everything that passed.

"I can’t stop loving hard,”
She said, and he said back,
"Them are powerful big words,
Now I need some proof of it."

She stepped toward him. Then she took
Her dress and pulled it down,
And without that clinging cloth,
Her skin was marbled as the stone.

Daddy fumbled with his belt,
Breathing in thick pants.
They regarded each other for a spell
Then he took her with a grunt.
Right upon the flattened block
That was the tomb of Uncle Jessie,
They wildly pitched and bucked
In spasmed ecstasy.

After finishing that act,
He walked home laughing,
But they both were very distant
At the next church gathering.

They didn't seem to glance
At each other all the while,
Regarding each other in a trance
And without the trace of a smile.

I was chosen that very time
To pass the Communion plate,
So I handed it to him
And watched his stony face.

He took the blood dark wine
And pressed it to his lips,
As if he could wash away all sin
And eat the crusty bread of forgiveness.

Now I still love my father,
But he's lost my respect,
And I could never bother
To like him half as much.