Behold!

What was old is new again

as you open the door

to McCabe’s Tavern

in the village that time forgot

and wander up to the bar, making

eye contact with the barkeep

who tells you that for a copper

he might know

something and so you fish

out a ruddy red coin and

plonk it on the bar.

Taking it, he glances both

ways and tells you that it’s not

your first time here, and that his

answer still hasn’t changed:

she's gone

Frustrated and confused you hand

him a silver and ask him for his strongest

drink and before long it’s two more then it’s

two too many and the whole place is

spinning like the pinwheels your daughter

used to carry as she ran through

snapdragon fields in those easy breezy

days before the bastards burned

your farm to the ground and took

her why did they take her she

never did nothing to nobody she

was just a fucking kid

Before you can get too into your

cups strong arms grasp your shoulders

maybe you’ve had enough and

you push yourself away

you’ll tell these bottom-feeders

when you’ve had enough and right now

you’ve had enough of them and these

watered-down drinks and everyone’s

bullshit, you spit, flinging open the door

and stumbling across the cobblestone street

to the next tavern and