Old Man in the Window on Christmas Eve
By Ken McCandless
Old man in the window on Christmas Eve
Why do you stare at me?
As I pass beneath your tenement perch
With treasures ladenly
I’ve no time to stop and chat
Or share your loneliness
I must be off to kin and friend
To share some Christmas bliss
Old man in the window on Christmas Eve
I can barely see your face
With its wizened features, gnarled and waned,
Behind the cracked and dirty pane
And beneath that yellow and tattered shade
Your balding crown
With its wisps of white
Halos in the dingy light
Old man in the Window on Christmas Eve
What tales you must know
Of youthful days and wilder ways
When you wore a young man’s soul
Did pretty girls in Pinafores
Giggle at your wit?
And when you passed them on the beach
Did you flex a bit?
Did they curtsy when you bowed
And invited them to dance?
And afterward in the rumble seat
Did you steal a brief romance?
But most important, could you love?
Did you love? Was she beautiful?
Did you share such Christmas Eves
So many years ago?
But she went to sleep last summer
With the lilies blooming high
Now Christmas Eve is spent up there
Watching shoppers scurry by
Old man in the window on Christmas Eve
Why do you haunt me so?
Why am I so troubled
As I pause here in the snow?
Are you a stark prediction
Of what will come to be?
Will I stand where you stand now?
Are you a future me?
Old man in the window on Christmas Eve
I know now what I must know
That the joy in Christmas is in
Reaping for which we sow
That love once given is love returned
And brings the warmest lift
And the peace we share with those in
Need is the greatest Yuletide gift
So with mittened hand I raise a wave
And flash a hardy smile
Your toothless grin and twinkling
Eye have made my gift worthwhile
With lighter steps and peace of soul
I take my final leave
And thank the Babe in Bethlehem
For an old man in the window on Christmas Eve
By Ken McCandless
Old man in the window on Christmas Eve
Why do you stare at me?
As I pass beneath your tenement perch
With treasures ladenly
I’ve no time to stop and chat
Or share your loneliness
I must be off to kin and friend
To share some Christmas bliss
Old man in the window on Christmas Eve
I can barely see your face
With its wizened features, gnarled and waned,
Behind the cracked and dirty pane
And beneath that yellow and tattered shade
Your balding crown
With its wisps of white
Halos in the dingy light
Old man in the Window on Christmas Eve
What tales you must know
Of youthful days and wilder ways
When you wore a young man’s soul
Did pretty girls in Pinafores
Giggle at your wit?
And when you passed them on the beach
Did you flex a bit?
Did they curtsy when you bowed
And invited them to dance?
And afterward in the rumble seat
Did you steal a brief romance?
But most important, could you love?
Did you love? Was she beautiful?
Did you share such Christmas Eves
So many years ago?
But she went to sleep last summer
With the lilies blooming high
Now Christmas Eve is spent up there
Watching shoppers scurry by
Old man in the window on Christmas Eve
Why do you haunt me so?
Why am I so troubled
As I pause here in the snow?
Are you a stark prediction
Of what will come to be?
Will I stand where you stand now?
Are you a future me?
Old man in the window on Christmas Eve
I know now what I must know
That the joy in Christmas is in
Reaping for which we sow
That love once given is love returned
And brings the warmest lift
And the peace we share with those in
Need is the greatest Yuletide gift
So with mittened hand I raise a wave
And flash a hardy smile
Your toothless grin and twinkling
Eye have made my gift worthwhile
With lighter steps and peace of soul
I take my final leave
And thank the Babe in Bethlehem
For an old man in the window on Christmas Eve
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