Old friend
“Tell me now, old friend, when you gonna let me be?” The Allman Brothers Band
I don’t quite know how it came to this,
but if I have to take up arms against you
I’ll draw them from the auction houses
and antique shops; old muskets, sabres.
I’ll be relieved when I can’t find, let
alone afford them, and I’ll grow calm.
Gone are our nights of righting the world,
of drinking like we were bailing it out –
we knew too much about each other
and nothing at all of ourselves.
Richie McCaffrey’s collection Cairn was published recently by Nine Arches Press
Like the contradiction of the last couplet. Good poem.
Wonderful!