It had been told the boy was old and wise before his time
his locks they say were peppered gray though he was only nine
he grew to be a prodigy, read every book he could
but played as hard out in the yard, this was his childhood.

His skin is fair and freckled, with eyes of grayish green
sometimes they are bespeckled but the clearest ones i've seen
he stared me down the sidewalk and I thought that I would melt
but never told him anything about the thing I felt

I met him then, at seventeen and just a budding rose
much less the height and weight he is but that's just how it goes
I got to know this gentle dude who goes without a sock
the King of Conversation, he's the baddest on the block

He made the grade without the aid of study hall Morrone
Lo and behold God broke the mold, he had a funny bone
but rarely let it out, his quiet kind of fun
his friends will vouch he loves the couch, it's where his nappin's done

Well he's somewhat into music, saw the movie, read the book
periodicals take floorspace while his CDs line the nook,
Lisk ain't into artwork, window treatments, floors or walls,
it's Thanksgiving over Christmas, can't be bothered decking halls

The only one I've ever met who can make me laugh and cry
all in the same moment though I really can't say why
but when I was just seventeen, he turned the big "eight oh"
i wished that I could be around to watch that old man grow.

it's my first cold of the season and my last poem of the year
and though I sit here sneezin', there's nothing we should fear
and I know that he will love this, and he may just shed a tear,
so let's toast, a swig of Lisky and God Bless the coming year!