Bitter Work

The old sailor came like a storm into the bar
And left his religion at the door
He left his tribulations too
It was a hard day at sea
You see
The mast was just so goddamn old, it was bound to break at some point
He should’ve fixed it, he knew
But he had the motor for emergencies
Until the goddamn motor dropped overboard
Just like that
Plonk
And now, you see, he was going to drink this whole goddamn bar dry or so help him God
And that’s what he did
It was bewitching to watch the man work
If Jesus was a carpenter
The old sailor was a drinker
And the fighting
The bar flies buzzed around and he swatted every single one
SWAT
Drink
SWAT
Drink
And he kept drinking
And he didn’t stop until
Every
Last
Drop

Was gone

His body clock woke him before his brain, in the gutter of society
Stale beer mixed with tuna lining his coat
He dusted himself off and headed straight for the pier
He sets sail at 5am
And he had a mast to fix