Stranger in the Park

Intro

The police found the remains at 4 a m,

City Park. No eye dee, except for a billfold.

Wadded inside, a note, yellowed and dim,

And a bank box key, and the note told:

Chorus

"Use this for my ashes, spread them wherever.

I'd like a small service at City Park.

Please, ask the two people below, however,

To attend. Make the service an hour before dark."

In the box, his lifetime, ten thousand dollars,

And the names of his pair for his wake.

"If they attend, and they must not be bawlers,

They could split the remainder of his stake."

Verse 1

Ann was the grand daughter of Sergeant Wood,

A friend he'd met long ago in the Vietnam War.

He'd been asked to guard her, best that he could.

Times for the man turned bleak after the corps.

In time, he found her after he'd lost his way.

A drunken old fool, too drunk to tell her.

Staggering, he followed her like a mongrel stray.

Before the stranger lost track of her forever,

He stumbled in traffic on a city thoroughfare.

Ann heard the screech of a vehicle's brakes.

She called the police and administered C P R.

The stranger's bequeathed ward saved his life that day.

Chorus

"Use this for my ashes, spread them wherever.

I'd like a small service at City Park.

Please, ask the two people below, however,

To attend. Make the service an hour before dark."

In the box, his lifetime, ten thousand dollars,

And the names of his pair for his wake.

"If they attend, and they must not be bawlers,

They could split the remainder of his stake."

Verse 2

Samuel was a young man, an artist of sorts,

The stranger met him inside of a jail cell,

Both innocent of the crimes to their courts.

Momentary acquaintances in Hell.

The boy was acquitted and sent home to his art,

His hearing the type for a young, well-kept lad.

The judge saw purity and kindness in his heart,

And felt a conviction would be overly bad.

The homeless drunk must be guilty of some crime.

The stranger spent two years behind prison walls.

Sobered, thinking became how he spent time

Thought about the boy gave him reason for it all.

Chorus

"Use this for my ashes, spread them wherever.

I'd like a small service at City Park.

Please, ask the two people below, however,

To attend. Make the service an hour before dark."

In the box, his lifetime, ten thousand dollars,

And the names of his pair for his wake.

"If they attend, and they must not be bawlers,

They could split the remainder of his stake."

Verse 3

A pastor was paid well for the brief ceremony.

Ann sat next to Samuel on the park bench.

The two didn't speak, but their grief was not phony.

The two were the only people in attendance.

The pastor asked God to give the misguided man

Full measure of his vast heavenly realm,

Satisfied, the pastor relinquished a final amen.

Ann and Samuel rose an stopped beneath an elm

They each recounted their presence in his life,

She, a savior of sorts, and he, a cell-mate confidant.

They regretted the stranger's existence of strife.

She returned home and family, he to a nearby restaurant.

Chorus

"Use this for my ashes, spread them wherever.

I'd like a small service at City Park.

Please, ask the two people below, however,

To attend. Make the service an hour before dark."

In the box, his lifetime, ten thousand dollars,

And the names of his pair for his wake.

"If they attend, and they must not be bawlers,

They could split the remainder of his stake."

"Use this for my ashes, spread them wherever.

I'd like a small service at City Park.

Please, ask the two people below, however,

To attend. Make the service an hour before dark.

An hour before dark."