The Barfly

I met an old man one night in a bar

He was sitting alone

The way men his age always are

His movements were slow

Didn't speak very well

But every old man has a story to tell

He lived by the book

Went to church every day

But his wife left him young

With two daughters and bills to pay

He worked himself hard

And the years flickered past

His girls kept him young

But they grew up so fast

Prodigal faith always felt second best

When she turned seventeen

She took her coat and her camera

And headed west

It broke her dad's heart

But as he likes to say

With enough time apart

Even faith fades away

Jenny met Ray in his last days ashore

They married in May

And that August he joined the war

He said Jenny don't cry

I'll be home in the fall

So she held her head high

And said nothing at all

Then he got in a plane

Took it up in the air

It never came down

For all she knows it's stlil

Flying around up there

Then Jenny went wrong

And the last that I heard

It's been seven years long

Since she uttered a word

Seven years gone

Since she uttered a word

Now her father just sits

All alone at the bar

He orders his drinks

And smokes cigarettes

He knows he can't afford

He's got no regrets

Says he's doing quite well

But every old man

Has a story to tell