I don’t know what I was doing
But that’s really of little concern
It took only a few notes from the radio
For my world to suddenly upturn
A boy wakes up late one morning
The cottage is still, the air abuzz
In the distance the ski boat roars
And suddenly there I was
Andrea True was warbling on the AM
As the hands rolled back on the clock
At the southern end of the Long Lake
Where a boy anxiously stood on the dock
It was the Fourth of July, ‘76
I’m standing watch on the boathouse deck
Looking down at the boy I remember
Living life with this analog tech
The boy had missed the wake-up call
While his family was out on the lake
With Mom at the helm of the RoJo
And Dad slaloming over the wake
Awash in the emotion of the moment
Feeling forgotten and left behind
Just when he feels he can bear it no more
The radio signals the next rewind
Eight summers unwind in a blink
The boathouse paint is still fresh
The boy hasn’t been invented quite yet
But somehow I stand there in the flesh
The same AM radio crackles alive
Herb Alpert and his brass hold the key
As a man and his new family arrive
The cottage the root of the family tree
Mom and Dad and the kids are excited
Their new home is nearly complete
Only several more weeks until they move in
This cottage has been a welcome retreat
From the cliff above I watch them
Lighting sparklers on the deck at twilight
Rapt in this intimate moment I smile
When the radio cracks open the night
Twelve more years fade in a static hiss
The voice of Doris Day comes in clear
Whatever will be, will be, or so it goes
And the meaning begins to cohere
Perched at the top of the cliff by the road
An old carriage house, a steep rocky yard
The ‘56 Caddy peeks out toward the lake
A Coupe de Ville sentry standing guard
I make my way down the precarious path
Mossy green blocks serving as stairs
Past the outhouse, down toward the lake
A family is seated in bright metal chairs
I recognize Dad from old black and whites
He wouldn’t have known Mom quite yet
There on the deck sat his own family tree
And the grandfather I never met
Fireworks illuminate the moonless night
And I wonder what all of this meant
Glimpses of family over decades of life
Some lived, some told and some dreamt
Suddenly I’m on the boathouse deck, ‘76
I see that boy on the dock in heartache
I realize at once, he was never alone
Forever guarded by the ghosts of the lake.
Mannino Acid 