I first saw you in a baby crib,
    With little diapers on.
And such little, tiny fingers....
    I looked again, and you were gone.

I watched you take your first steps,
    With no hand to lean upon'
And try to drink milk from a cup....
    I looked again, and you were gone.

I glanced out the kitchen window
    As you played upon the lawn,
With your little toy possessions....
    I looked again, and you were gone.

I watched you learn to ride a bike,
    As you hollered, "Dad! Hang-on!"
...And daubed some tears, and patched some tires,
    ...And looked again... and, you were gone.

I saw you leave for school one day
    With brand-new slickers on,
And watched you learn to read and write....
    And looked again, and you were gone.

I watched you grow and change and laugh and cry
    As life began to dawn'
And learn to face its trials....
    I looked again, and you were gone.

I guess I should have recognized,
    As I hurried through each day,
And worked, and played, and paid the bills,
    Those times would slip away.

I had, but just one chance to see
    What lay before my eyes.
T'was there to love, and hold, and teach,
    Before it passed-on by.

There's a precious thing that's known as Time.
    It burns slow, but constantly.
Its ashes lie in a scattered heap
    That we call the memory.

And as I probe in desperate pain,
    To find the one I seek;
The ashes only wisp about,
    And the memory seems more bleak.

The ones who mean the most to me:
    That I see each fleeting day,
Are the ones I need to linger with,
    And spend more time, along the way.

For, being a little wiser,
    And, as this day begins to dawn,
I know that by this evening,
    I'll look again... - to find it - - gone.