Old Man in the Park

I walked past Audubon On a hot, sticky Nola morning Runners ran with iPod's and white headphones blasting JT, Jay-Z, or some new thing With a quick hit or a quick wit Then I saw this old man He sat on a dedicated bench all alone And I thought Wife must be dead Sons or daughters out on their own Must be all alone A phone call here or there Birthdays and Christmas But all those days in between What's left for an old man who's read all the books Old men that remember too much Cormac was right You can carve those words in stone He must be all alone Maybe this is when I do it Take a step to help someone Talk for a few minutes Make his day Old people love talking to young people I take a step to sit Under the sway of those Louisiana Willows Still weeping An elementary class walks past All those boys and girls stand in a line holding hands tight I watched the old man He followed those kids our future I've heard with his eyes and the pity dropped out from under me and I saw nothing but scheming blueprints for an unfinished basement a piss stained mattress with roaches in the springs kids trust everyone even an old man with a set of knives looking for a young fix a tight squeeze and I was gonna give this man my time I was gonna sit and talk to this guy fuck him mark another down on the pedophile slate probably on his way to priesthood or penn state let him rot in his own skin put him on the chair or just starve him let him wail like a Frenchman trombone anything to keep him all alone But what do I know about old men What do I know about deviance I'm only 23 Born from two lovers with masters degrees Lucky and white Why do I think these things And so quickly turn my back on this old man Who did nothing but sit in the park alone Maybe I'm not made for parks Or maybe I just shouldn't watch the news so much