Wee Small Hours

We’d read nursery rhymes by the bedroom light In a magic land once upon a night. You were just so big, so the story goes, With a picture book, eating cheerios. You had your mother’s smile and eyes of daddy blue When the wee small hours were larger than you. We’d go soaring off for a midnight snack, Fly around the house then we’d circle back, Like two brave explorers in a big balloon, Taming wild things beneath a winking moon, And we were always searching for your other shoe When the wee small hours were larger than you. It’s a simple truth on a windy day How the pages turn when you glance away; Till before you know someone’s moving on And the binding’s cracked and the cover’s gone, But I can still remember when that book was new And the wee small hours were larger than you. Now I lose myself watching evening fall Where the highway stands like a long, low wall, Till I see myself in a rocking chair With a little boy and his teddy bear, As I recall the days before the birdie flew When the wee small hours remind me of you.