Nocturne

It was late in the summer and the house was asleep
 Except for you in the attic, under the eaves
 The windows were open, it was lamplight and stars
 Lamplight and stars from above
 You could hear a car passing, way down the street
 A neighbor's dog barking and the wind in the trees
 And you're the king of your castle and of all you survey
 At the end of this day that was
 You thought of your children just down the stairs
 Your wife sleeping deeply, the quotidian cares
 Some days it's easy, some days it's hard
 Some days it's so hard to be loved
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 You look like your old man when he was your age
 Stepping back from the mirror, more surprised than amazed
 Same salt at the temples, same faraway eyes
 A disguise you recognize now
 You wish he'd been around more when you were a kid
 You wish he had told you so much more than he did
 All these regrets and they're still handed down
 From father to son somehow
 And what doesn't get lost in the numbing routine
 What isn't a burden or casualty
 You're sworn to protect from indifference and rust
 What indifference and rust will allow
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 It's not very often but it happens sometimes
 You can feel something pulling like the moon pulls the tides
 Too strong to outswim and too deep to outlast
 The past like a wave on the sea
 We're all trying to live up to some oath to ourselves
 Try holding back time but it will not be held
 No king has the power, no mortal the skill
 But still you keep trying to see
 What's waiting for you at the end of your days
 The wars you inherit, the truces you make
 The riches you squandered, the love that you earned
 And the nocturne you heard in a dream