he was gonna be

a musician

guitar man

& me?

poet writer storyteller

these years on

i go back there

to the old town

asking around

for the man

felt i’d shared

those dreams with

sad to find

he was now known

as the town drunk

barred from bars

anywhere where

they sold the liquids

his life had become

i bought him a coffee

had nothing else

i could share without causing shame