If I close my eyes I can almost hear
My mother callin’, “Neil,
Go find your brother, Daddy’s home
And it’s time for supper, hurry on.”
And I see two boys racin’ up
Two flights of staircase,
Squirmin’ into Papa’s embrace,
And his whiskers warm on their face.
Where’s it gone? Oh, where’s it gone?
Two floors above the butcher,
First door on the right,
And life filled to the brim, as I
Stood by my window and looked
Out on those Brooklyn Roads.
I can still recall the smells of cookin’
In the hallways, rubbers dryin’
In the doorways, and report cards
I was always afraid to show.
Mama’d come to school, and
As I’d sit there softly cryin’,
Teacher’d say, “He’s just not tryin’.
He’s got a good head if he’d apply it,
But you know yourself,
It’s always somewhere else.”
I’d build me a castle, with dragons and kings,
And I’d ride off with them, as I stood
By my window and looked out
On those Brooklyn Roads.
Thought of goin’ back, but all I’d see
Are strangers’ faces, and all
The scars that love erases,
But as my mind walks thru those places,
I’m wondering’ what’s come of them.
Does some other young boy
Come home to my room?
Does he dream what I did, as he stands
By my window and looks out
On those Brooklyn Roads.
Brooklyn Roads.