Lyrics

The Watch Man
© Arlon Bennett PO Box 84 Princeton, NJ 08542 609-890-4948

A lonely and restless child
in ragged clothes and running wild
along the shops on the boulevard
there were empty faces who disregarded me?

As one of just a countless few
who roamed the streets and the avenues
dreaming under storefront awnings
shooed away in the morning?s light?

On one gray and rainy day
before I could run away
a man who fixes clocks and watches
softly said it?s time to come inside?

I followed him reluctantly
through a doorway never meant for kids like me
Then amidst the sounds of passing time
I read a tattered sign above that said


Love is patient
love is kind
In these two hands I hold you ?till the end of time
watching you?
with each tick of my heart?
with every moving part
I?m watching you?

He offered something warm to drink
As I sipped I couldn?t think
then sounding like a song you sing
He said wait I have just one more thing for you?

He reached behind some dusty clocks
and inside a little box
was a pocket watch with perfect time
He told me that it was mine to keep?
And inscribed not to small to ignore
were the very words I saw before




I think of him every now and then
the watchman I never saw again
now with two kids of my own
I know that I was not alone at all?

And sometimes on a taxi ride?
or when I call the kids inside
I gaze down to my open hand
and the face that helps me understand it all?