From the recording Time is Ticking (A Father’s Vigil)
Time is Ticking is a moving Americana ballad performed by 65-year-old Michael Bennett on America's Got Talent. The song explores a father’s lifelong sacrifices and patient waiting for his son, delivered through a hoarse yet powerful vocal. Opening with a melodic lead-guitar solo, the performance builds emotional intensity through authentic storytelling. Bennett’s weathered voice captures decades of love, longing, and the relentless passage of time, bringing both judges and audience to tears with its raw honesty and universal themes of parental love.
Lyrics
**Verse 1:**
The porch light's been burning for twenty-five years
Through seasons of silence and swallowed-down tears
I built you a cradle from oak and from pine
Still waiting for the day you'd call yourself mine
The photographs yellow, your room's gathering dust
But a father's devotion don't corrode or rust
**Verse 2:**
I worked double shifts at the factory floor
Saved every penny, then saved a bit more
For college or weddings or whatever you'd need
A father's love planted like a patient seed
The neighbors stopped asking, said "let it go"
But they don't understand what a father knows
**Chorus:**
Time is ticking, but I'm still here
Through every hour, every year
My heart keeps beating, my door stays wide
Son, there's always room by my side
Time is ticking, the clock won't wait
But I'll be standing at this gate
**Verse 3:**
I see you in strangers who pass on the street
In the rhythm of rainfall, in the summer heat
Your mama's gone now, she never did see
If you'd ever come home to her and me
But I made her a promise beneath that old oak
I'd wait for our boy 'til my final stroke
**Verse 4:**
My hands shake now when I pour the coffee
The mirror shows a man who's aged softly
But sixty-five years taught me one true thing
A father's love don't need reasoning
So I'll keep this vigil 'til my last breath fades
Standing in the light while the evening cascades
**Final Chorus:**
Time is ticking, and I'm still here
Through every hope, every fear
My arms stay open, my love won't hide
Son, you'll always fit by my side
Time keeps ticking, but don't you wait
I'm forever standing at this gate