Twenty with a Blind Man

Somebody gave me

Twenty years

And said--

Do with it

What you will

Young man

Because at the time

I was still young

And thought

Time

Was a little throw-around

A little toss-about

A little fair play

For those of us

Who thought

That sidewalk chalk

Was just for hopscotch

I took that twenty years

And I gave it to a blind man

Because he told me

He wanted to live to see

The other half

Of ninety-three

And I thought it would be funny

Which is why

I did most of the stupid shit

I did back then

Somebody gave me twenty years

And my mother asked for ten

Because she wanted to see

My baby nephew graduate

And I said ‘Sure’

But it was too late

See, the blind man had his years

And I couldn’t get them back

I tracked him down

Two towns, three towns

Four towns over

And there he was

Living well

But ready to drop

When the clock

Struck out

The years

The years

Weren’t mine

To give

But I didn’t believe

That they’d get you to live

Just far enough

To take a crack

At the time you thought

You’d never get back

They say time is a circle

But no, it’s a sphere

And this is what you do

With a brand new year

You give it away

To a kid too dumb to know

That he’s the dog

In the pony show

I could have split that twenty

And given half to my dad

Who went down

In Molson’s Hardware

Fifty-eight

Not bad

Not for guys who grew up

Where I grew up

But still too soon

When you remember

I got twenty

I got twenty

I got twenty to spare

But I had nothing left

In Molson’s hardware

The blind man he lived

But he still couldn’t see

So what could he do

With a dumb kid like me

He could convince me

That time is a give-away

Fling-away

Push-away

Kind of thing

Hold too tight

You get burned

Loosen up

You lose touch

Give me twenty more years

And it’s still not enough

Because I’d give my brother fifty

Then I’d give him fifty-three

I’d never want to see a day

When he goes

Before me

I want to be the first to exit

Because I handle death the worst

See anything that’s a gift

Has in its nature

The traits of a curse

So give me all your years

But make sure I’m last in line

That’ll be fine by me

‘Cause I gave away

All my

Time