Time

Down the road, around the bend

Lived a man who was my friend...

He had no wife or other kin,

how lonely this man must have been!

A squeaky porch swing where he sat

swayed back and forth as he stroked

his cat.

Each day I’d pass and wave and

smile, but had no time to stay a while.

Important duties beckoned me,

I had things to do and people to see.

“I’ll visit soon,” I called to my friend

 As on I hurried ‘round the bend.

"I’ll surely do it,”  I averred,

I’ll stop and visit – keep my word!

We’ll  talk and laugh and have a drink

It’s nice to have a friend, I think.

But Time waits for no one – it hurries past

and promises made seldom last.

The news came early by way of phone

My friend had died – all alone.
My heart beat faster when I heard

“If only I had kept my word.”

And now, I visit where he sat, swing

back and forth and stroke his cat.

   ©2016 Peggy Toney Horton~

www.amazon.com/author/peggytoneyhorton