The Loneliest Night of the Year

As the lights die down in this old town I sit and sip my beer; Self-consciously I wear a frown On the loneliest night of the year. The revelry spills over distant hills As the midnight hour looms; Resignedly I raise my glass To toast the lovelorn tombs. For the buried days of all her ways Seem to animate in my head; Despondently I plead them live And come back from the dead. The sweetest face I cannot replace With an ocean of spirits and wine; Convulsed with tears, I taste her mouth And grieve for she was mine. Acting tough is never enough And neither is alcohol; Unfulfilled I fall to bits For she who meant it all. I sit and stare at an empty chair And find that I believe In self-destructive self-pity On this coldest New Year’s Eve. The fire goes out and I fully doubt That the passing of a year Might signify some bright new hope For love and life and cheer. I will drink some more then hug the floor With nothing else to do; For nothing is all I have become, Nothing without you…