HOBO

HOBO

[poem]

By Richard E. Noble

Hey Hobo
I didn’t get to say good-bye.
I miss you real bad already, buddy.
This place feels like an empty hole
without you here each morning to say hello.

Why didn’t you stay off the darn road?
You never go out on the road.
You’ve been here so long.
You knew better than that.

I guess that you just got distracted,
didn’t you, buddy.
Yeah, I know.
But now what am I going to do without you?
I’ve got a real pain for you my friend.

I know I told you that I loved ya.
I know I did.
I always stopped to pet you, didn’t I?
I even came back from the truck some nights.

You were always yelling at me.
But I liked it.
Everybody yells at me.

Now you can’t say that I didn’t do my best.
I know that you were mad at me at first.
But you were a stray.
I already had seven cats at home.
You remember … you met them.

What was I supposed to do?
I can’t take care of every cat in the world.

But when you got sick,
I got you fixed up … didn’t I?
I got you all your shots too.
I don’t even get myself shots, man.
But I got them for you.

I even took you home once.
But you were too tough for them guys.
You had old Bogie cowering behind the couch.
He’s too old for that, Hobo.

You had a pretty good time down here at the
Ice Cream Parlor, didn’t you, buddy.
You met lots of people down here at Hobo’s.
They are all going to be asking about you.

I couldn’t believe that you let them kids pull on your tail.
You were a real, real good buddy.

Will you wait for me Hobo?
I don’t know where I’m going either.
But wherever, I know that you’ll help me to handle it.

I’m going to miss you buddy.
I keep seeing you everywhere.
If I could just see you sneak in that door at closing time
one more time.

Yell at me Hobo!
Come on … yell at me!

I deserve it.
I should have done something.
What was it?

Yell at me buddy!
Tell me about it.
I can take it.

Hey … bye-bye.
Keep an eye out for me.
I’m going to be looking for you.

Just yell.
Just yell at me my friend.

Just yell.
I’ll recognize your voice.

Just yell.
Bye- bye … you sweet thing …

Bye-bye.