Left Alone

 He is a lot older

Life is a lot simpler

Sitting in the corner of the room with a vacant stare

A bare room except for a table and one chair

The only things with which to dine

Some crackers maybe and a cheap bottle of wine

Dirty clothing and a soiled hat

His only friend a diseased rat.

His life hadn’t always been this way

Graduated from high school with all a bright future would portray.

He once had a wife and a little girl named Mae,

Lost them both somewhere along the way.

After several attempts at staying sober and a hospital stay

Came home to an empty house as his wife had gone and taken little Mae

He recalls the feeling of reject, anger and a broken heart

Everyday he tells himself he will find them but where to start.

It’s been over thirty years since he’s seen his little girl or his wife

They were the only things that mattered in his life

He had come home from Nam a different man

One that was spat on and no one could understand.

His life is full of memories and pain

No one around here even knows his name.

He tried so many times over the years

Now all his thoughts are drenched in a drunk's tears.

He tells himself as the light slowly turns to night

Tomorrow I’ll get up and find my little girl surely I have the right.

All the while knowing that he won’t so why pretend,

For he realizes that he will be right here until the end.

Somewhere a young lady wonders if he is all right

Some nights she is awakened with a strange fright.

Her mother passed away some years ago

Of a broken heart for a love of long ago.

 ©David R. Alexander
September 17, 2002

Webmaster: Thurman P. Woodfork

Crying played by Harry Todd: www.gitpicker.com