[NARRATION]
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The old man stood there thinking
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While staring in that old toy shop
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With its carousel still turning round
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In front of a music box clock
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For what good's a clock without a chime
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A useless thing that just keeps time
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Recording moments that come and leave
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But this clock's chimes struck midnight
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Upon a lost christmas eve
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And when the final chime had spoken
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And the twelfth bell had finally rung
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The indecision in the father was broken
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He now knew what had to be done
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So he got into a yellow cab
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And prayed that it might lead
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Through all this snow and streetlight glow
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To a past he might retrieve
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When the taxi dropped him off
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At the boarding house hotel
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It was a rundown building
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With a musty, rundown smell
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And he asked for his son
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From the hotel's night desk clerk
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Who said his son was not there
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He was not back from work
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When the father said that was impossible
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The clerk replied, "i'm not here to debate
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But he works at the hospital, just down the block
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If you want you can sit here and wait
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But he never returns till real late"
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Then the father tried asking another question
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But the clerk went back to watching his tv
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Which was also playing, "how the grinch stole christmas"
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And the father mused, "this movie has no sympathy,
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Well, at least not when it comes down to me"
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Once outside he saw the hospital's entrance
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And went to information by the front door
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Who confirmed that his son had a job there
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And worked up on the seventh floor
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So he took the elevator up to that floor
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Which was marked "maternity"
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And the man knew in his heart that this was a mistake
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For his son working here could not be
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But the nurse on duty reconfirmed that he did
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And since her rounds were about to begin
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If he would like to follow her
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She would gladly take the father to him
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So he followed her to a large dark room
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That to him seemed unusually empty
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Except for several incubators glowing on the right
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Each with a trembling baby
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These infants were all extremely frail
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And obviously in incredible pain
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And this sight cut deep into that father's soul
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And he asked the nurse, please, to explain
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"these children were born to mothers
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Who were addicted to crack cocaine
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And these children are born in complete withdrawal
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For that drug is still deep in their veins
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We can give them no other drugs to ease their withdrawals
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Since they are born premature and quite frail
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And any form of pain killer
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Could easily cause their small hearts to fail"
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"and what does my son do here?"
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The father asked, "he is not a patient, i assume"
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The nurse did not say a single word
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But nodded to the far left corner of the room
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And there the father saw his son
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Who looked like himself when he was a younger man
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Rocking back and forth in a rocking chair
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A trembling infant held in his hands
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And in his arms the child did not cry
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But slept to silent lullabies
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And his son rocked that newborn back and forth
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Until finally, a dream was caught
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But still at his rocking, his son faithfully kept
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Till that poor child's trembling had also, finally, left
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Then the nurse whispered softly
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Into the father's ear
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Something that a blind man could see
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But the father needed to hear
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Whispered to him in this room
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Filled with mankind's misbegotten
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Something that the father had known once
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But somehow had forgotten
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She said, "it is this way with each of us
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We all need to be held, at least twice
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Once upon the day that we are born
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And once more when we leave this life
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Your son has been coming to this place
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Since as long as i've been working here
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He's never missed a single day
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In nearly twenty years
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He always arrives promptly on time
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But a time card he does not keep
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For he never leaves this maternity room
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Until every last child is asleep"
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Then the nurse noticed the father
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| Trying to choke back the things he now felt |
