The Hustler and the Drunk

He stumbled in, as drunk as sin with a limp and a nose full of red He ordered cheap gin, and the blood dripped in As he raised the drink to his head He sat on the stool,and the drops formed a pool He could feel all the eyes on his back He guzzled the fuel, but he kept his cool As he loaded the balls in the rack He straigtened his gaze, yet still in a haze and challenged the room to a game Then through the maze, with a cigeratte blaze The surly stranger came His face was stone, He walked alone With a beer and a black leather case with a cue of his own, his cover was blown On his wrist a tatoo of an ace He said "I'll take", and he put up his stake The lushes all gathered around With a half hearted shake they flipped for the break While the bartender poured out a round The stranger broke, with a solid stroke And down fell the four and the three This guy was no joke, then he pinched from his poke and cried out "the next one's on me"! Ear to Ear grins, as they swilled down that gin In this stranger, a hero they'd found They cheered him to win, as he knocked those balls in they cheered for another free round He had it won, yes all but one The eight was final ball The table run, the lushes stunned When that sphere refused to fall Clinching his fist, shocked by his miss He glared across the table Like a ship in list from drunken bliss to stand he was barely able That drunk cracked a smile, for he knew all the while That he only needed one chance In appearance so vile, yet he shot with style That Gin put him into a trance His vision was blurred, he mumbled and slurred Yet to win he would need just one more And so much as a word, could not be heard That stranger just stared at the floor Well he sank that ball, and won it all and he yelled with a bellowing groan "before last call just one more tall And the lushes can all buy their own!"