GONE

"tough tony" is gone
i once feared him, but he turned out to be alright
once, i saw him in a chicago south side bar
must have been back in the 70's
his mind was already gone
filling his lungs with airplane glue by a urinal
walking with a cane
then he was gone
"mike the cleaner" is gone too
he hailed from taylor street
he knew all the tough guys
chuck, kenny, and jimmie bought it in vietnam
bobby died last year from agent orange
and bitched to the end about hines hospital
on how they treated veterans
"muscleman hokey" is gone from a heart attack
so is joe laporte, who was on my baseball team
and "billy akates" lies in bed all day
drinking 36 beers and waiting for his wife to come home
his christmas tree hasn't been taken down for 5 years
now i hear that "tom the shark" has throat cancer
i called him...no answer...wish him the best...
prayers are coming your way...sounds so phony...
what else can a man do?
i go to the gym and push hard
fight against the clock
go out like a warrior, i hope
tick...tick...tick...
fight against the inevitable
till i'm gone.