Been There Bunch

We had ourselves a time last night the card game bordered on theft, but there was no trouble at all thank God the losers paid up and left. The younger men with wives and kids went home to their early nights, with their egos went the worry of there being any fights. We old divorcees and widowers would stay until the dawn, there being no comforts left at home all of them long since gone. Alone except for each other we share an age old bond, gruff old men with ailments our camaraderie has grown fond. We know better but it’s too late nobody listens anymore, making the same old mistakes we did trashing marriages and fighting wars. Our poker is penny ante like our income and politics, others ended up with the money while we were getting our kicks. All of us have stood at the forefront with weapons or tools in hand, to build a better safer world we never broke or ran. Suffering mud and disrespect long hours with aching feet, facing up to the challenges refusing to be beat. Companies governments and exes stripped us to the bone, taking all we had salted away even the comforts of home. But we know for certain in our hearts the kind of race we’ve run, finishing without gain or glory still convinced we won. Because our nation stands intact where our children are living free, built with nerve and sweat and blood and that’s reward enough for me.