Hey Bartender ... how about one for the good old boys in the back!
God Knows they sure enough earned them...
These days their hours pass kinda slowly for the most part.
Most of em are getting up in years by now..still they all
remember the old glory days .. That is if you could call em that.!
If you look closely .. you'll see that those old hands shake a little
bit when they raise that glass of beer they're drinking.. it's for sure
more then some of them walk a little slower to that old dingy
rest room in the back and while their bladders are full to the
screaming point .. it takes them a few more minutes to drain the lizard,
Some of them carry some kind of battle scar.. seems to fit them like
a comfortable pair of bluejeans. Like proud medals of valor pinned to caved
in chests . But they still stand ramrod straight.. pride in their eyes
when Toby Keith's American soldier plays on the old jukebox. They
can all appreciate those words... They are Old soldiers
One night a week they come here to this Sea breeze cafe to play a few
games of billiards and catch up on the news on CNN. They love to listen to
all those old tunes that Al the bartender keeps putting on that well worn ..
box in the corner. The kinda songs that takes them back there to the days
of shrapnel and barbed wire.. days they spent fighting to protect the things they
believed in. Nights of huddling in fox holes trying to catch a few ZZ's .
Scared As could be.
Between the sharp edges of bomb bursts they sought escape in the fantasy
of home coming.. the parades.. the screaming crowds and above all the
lovely lasses .. laying face down in their laps of plenty . sharing the wealth
But somehow by some miracle they had made it back. got jobs.. found love
got married and raised families. growing old in the process....until
their favorite night of the week rolled around and they came back
to this old bar to drink a toast to those good buddies that gave all
over there across the waves so we could all enjoy a night at the Sea
Breeze lounge...Here's to you.. old soldiers.. for the freedom that I and
people just like me take for granted.. I raise my glass in your honor
