The Man Walking His Dog

John: vocal & piano

There his is, the man walking his dog
Through the rain, the sun, and the fog
Every morning and night
He’s a regular sight
Lost in the mumbling of some monologue
Just an old man out walking his dog

I don’t know his house or his name
Though he smiles and he waves all the same
Never stops for a visit
I wonder “who is it?”
This mysterious neighbor each evening the same
Just a dog and a man with no name

It’s gotten to where I’m suspecting
His privacy he is protecting
I guess he doesn’t feel
Any need to reveal
Any more than his presence, two times a day
So I watch him pass by and away

But perhaps the dog’s walking his man
Simply slips the loop over his hand
Then it’s once ‘round the block
Twice a day slowly walk
Perhaps we just don’t understand
That the dog is out walking his man

And I wonder if I’m the lone one
Who will notice the day they don’t come
Do we pass from this place
Disappear with no trace
Neither dog nor a man
Tethered collar to hand
The great constitutional finally done
And vanish as quick as we’ve come
Like an old man out walking his dog

June 6, 2012
Avondale Estates, GA
©2012 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP)