I once asked my father how he keeps his pride
How he can always take life in stride
How he keeps going when he feels like he died
How he still laughs when he wishes he'd cried

He took his cigar in his gnarled old hand
Blew a smoke ring and told me about words in the sand
How the hand, having written, moves on, carries through
For somehow it knows that's all it can do

The smoke ring danced soft in the still evening air
I wanted to speak but I just didn't dare
As he looked with pride at the ring he had blown
He let me in on a secret he'd known

He said "Life is like that, son - You go with the flow
"You do what you do - You know what you know
"Life is today. . .just here and now
"Life is like that sometimes - Life is like that somehow"

"You see that ol' smoke ring there in the air?
"It isn't concerned - No, it doesn't care
"It doesn't wonder if the breezes play fair
"It just enjoys the time that it's there"

"Old Solomon's rings says 'And this too shall pass'
"Don't dwell on your troubles - They never do last
"Life is too short. It runs by too fast
"And your catch is determined by the net that you cast

I looked at the smoke ring still riding the air
And I found a new bond as I continued to stare
As I realized my father was the ring that he blew
I vowed to remember the secret he knew

He said "Life is like that, son - You go with the flow
"You do what you do - You know what you know"
"Life is today. . .just here and now
"Life is like that sometimes - Life is like that somehow"

©1997 - Lane Baldwin