Ice on the Hudson

Tough kid tells the sweet kid

Meet me after school

Back where all the couples go for parkin'

Tough kid stands there waiting

Book clutched in his hand

Dog-eared to a poem by Philip Larkin

Magic and science as real as a dream

The ice on the Hudson flows downstream

And sometimes, somehow, flows up

Married quite a while

Husband leaves the house

Maybe back for dinner, maybe never

Calls home from a pay phone

Voice mail and a beep

Says he'll be in love with her forever

Which is the story, the plot or the theme?

The ice on the Hudson flows upstream

And somehow, sometimes, flows down

Tides pull the ocean, streams flow from the hills

The earth and the water in a battle of wills

Children raise their parents

Killers kill for love

Hearts are prized like gold and bled and shattered

Heroes cheat in battle

Scoundrels talk to God

And singers still sing songs as if they mattered

Which is the story, the plot or the theme?

The ice on the Hudson flows upstream

And somehow, sometimes, flows down