His Face Was Brown And Wrinkled
His Clothes Were Old And Worn
Sitting On A Sidewalk Bench
He Watched The Street As Traffic Swarmed
He Seemed So Lonely As He Sat There
No One Paid Him Any Mind
The Only Time I Saw Him Smile
Was When He Looked Down And Found A Dime

He Finally Turned To Me And Said
Young Man, Do You Know The Time
I Glanced At My Watch And Told Him
Yes Sir, It-‘s Half Past Nine
Well, I-‘ve Still Got A Couple Of Hours
Son, Ain-‘t It A Pretty Day
I-‘ll Just Sit Here And Soak The Sun Up
Before I Mosey On My Way
Are You Supposed To Meet Someone, I Asked
Oh No, Came His Reply
Well, Sometimes An Old Friend Comes By
We Sit And Tell Each Other Lies
What Kind Of Lies You Tell, I Asked
He Looked At Me And Almost Grinned
You Don-‘t Want To Get Me Started, Son
Oh, You-‘re Too Young To Understand
You Look To Be About My Daughter-‘s Age
She-‘s Married And Got Two Sons
One-‘s Fifteen And The Other-‘s Ten
I-‘ve Never Seen The Youngest One
But, I-‘ve Got His Pictures, Though, He Said
He-‘s A Healthy Looking Kid
The Last One-‘s I Got Was Five Years Ago
I S-‘pose He-‘s Grow-‘ed A Lot Since Then
I Said, You Mean It-‘s Been Ten Years
Since Your Family-‘s Been To See You
He Said, Well, More Like Eleven
But They Both Work, They-‘re Pretty Busy
Still, It Would Be Nice, He Said
If I Could See Them One Last Time
Doc Told Me -Ë—bout A Month Ago
I Don-‘t Have A Lot More Time
I Phoned And Told My Girl Last Week
She Talked It Over With Her Husband, Dan
They Said They-‘d Try To Come In June
Now, If I Can Just Hold On Till Then
It-‘s Not That They Don-‘t Want To Come
He Said, As He Looked At Me
They-‘re Just So Doggone Busy, Son
It-‘s Hard For Them To Get Time Free
As He Rambled On, I Understood
His Need For Telling Lies
He Made Excuses For An Ungrateful Child
Who Couldn-‘t Care Less If Her Daddy Died
Now, I Always, Considered Myself A Man
Some Say A Man Should Never Cry
But As The Old Man Finished His Story
A Mist Began To Fill My Eyes
He Noticed The Tears And Said To Me
Son, I Guess That I Was Wrong
You-‘re Not Too Young To Understand
I Guess Age Don-‘t Matter None At All
I Watched Him As He Ambled Off
He Used A Cane To Make His Way
I Just Noticed In The Paper
The Old Man Died Yesterday
C R Clark