Daddy

The street is quiet this night
Or,
Should I say
This early morning hour.

Thoughts run free
At three
And I,
I sort of cry
As I walk deserted streets
And think of a night
So long ago
When I first drug main
Here along the walks
And some shuttered stores
Now,
Busy back then
And I drove my new Mustang
And cruised with my friends
As the AM radio blared from
Distant lands
From Oklahoma to Wyoming
With KOMA,
And if it was new
Or hot
We heard it play.

I pause tonight,
"My God, has it really been
That long
Since I first heard that song?"
"And what of the friend
That rode those countless miles
Up and down and down and up
Sipping cold beer and swapping lies?"

"God, How old have I become
And he,
He died in that war
On distant shore."

I push the pedal
And the car hums,
How I wish I had it now,
Just to hear it run-
But then,
Is it the car I long for
Or the youth I had back then
That has forever escaped me now?"

I worked and saved
And did my best
But it was Dad
That did the rest.
A sunny morn
On a trip up north
A secret kept
Until the end
And a new Mustang
Candy-apple green
"Oh God,
What a machine."

I couldn’t speak
As I looked about
And then said with a shout-
"Oh Dad, is it
Really mine?"

He looked downward
Not straight in my eye
And it was one of the few times
I seen Daddy cry.

The street is quiet and empty now
And I stroll along
For a little while
Wishing for the car,
Wishing for the friends,
But wishing on a star
For Dad
So distant,
So far.