Hope Street

I took the bike

Rode through downtown

Wanted to walk, but--

They have those bikes

Those new bikes

That you can just take

Well--you can’t just take ‘em

You have to pay for ‘em

But after you pay

You can just take ‘em

And you, you know

You borrow ‘em

That’s what you do

And I realized

I haven’t ridden a bike

Since I was, god

Maybe ten

Maybe eleven
But you never forget

That’s the nice thing

About bikes

And other things

From childhood

You--you just never forget

I forget all sorts of things

But that--I don’t, uh--

I went by your old school

On the bike

Tried to see in Ms. Brugel’s room

But, uh, I was going kind of fast

Too fast, probably

Probably too fast

Couldn’t see anything

Probably…

Probably for the best

Your father and I

Killed ourselves, you know

Getting a house like this

Right on Hope

So that, uh, you could--

So you could have

One of those Christmas special

Childhoods

That we didn’t get to have

We thought--or I thought
I don’t know what he thought

But, uh, I thought

It would make you always

Want to come home

And be home

And just, uh, really enjoy

Being here

With me

With the--

With the family

Never expected you

To run away so fast

Like you were…

Like you were running

The way…

The way some people run

From homes

That aren’t so nice

Maybe…

Maybe it wasn’t

As nice as I thought?

You’d tell me

Wouldn’t you?

If it…

If it wasn’t so nice?

If there were things

I forgot?

That I should have remembered?

I used to carry you

Around that backyard

When you were a baby

And you couldn’t sleep

Around and around we’d go

In circles

While your father slept upstairs

In the morning he’d say--

What were you thinking?
That yard isn’t fenced off

There’s no real protection

You think just because we live on Hope

Nothing bad is ever going to happen

But I didn’t think that

I knew

I knew enough to know

That bad things

Can happen anywhere

To anyone

But late at night

Holding you

In that yard

I knew no matter

What came out of the darkness

I could protect you from it

I could protect you

From anything

Because I was strong

I was so strong

You--you made me strong

And I never forgot that

That’s one thing
I could never

Forget