Keeping Time

I take walks in the mornings
When my kid’s gone to school
I see parents walking children
Like we used to do

In the mornings for years
We headed down that same street
I’d see you and your strawberry blond family

I’d see you scruffy and smiling
After school in the yard
Or the park on Horatio
Where the kids played till dark

Or Sunday morning Little league
On the chilly Hudson Pier
Just the movie star father
Freezing with us in the April air

In the bright morning sun
Or late afternoon glow
We kept time with the rhythms
Mothers and fathers know
A February morning
The news was on
I froze when I heard your name
Our neighborhood king was gone

You'd been chasing the dragon
Needle still in your skin
Ace of Spades all around you
Aces always win

After 23 years
The great actor of our day
After 10 years of fatherhood
It took you just the same

For the kill that lies in wait
Like the cruelest undertow
Is stronger than all a man builds and loves
And dreams and knows

And I’ll see you again
Up on that screen
But I’ll remember you best
On our neighborhood streets

In your baseball cap and jeans
Kids and stroller in tow
Amid the flowers of spring
Or January snow
Keeping time with the rhythms
Mothers and fathers know

Four winters come and gone
Spring is here again
I saw your kids the other day
An old woman with them

And a chill went through me
When I looked into her face
She was the picture of you
Just wizened with age

And all at once I knew
Something sorrowful and true
She was walking with them
Still keeping time with you
Cause the rhythms just go on
And will go on without you