Let me tell you a simple story

full of non-existent worry

about a small boy who lost his father

to a red and silver bottle

filled with liquor clear as light

which brought sorrow yet delight

to the small boy's hopeless father.

Sipped and chugged and chugged and sipped

with experience in his grip

small boy's father held the bottle,

just as well he knew to throttle 

it before the poor thing fell

nothing left, but a bold smell

of failure kept within the bottle. 

Small boy's father lost his dreams

after which all went downstream,

so he struggled for a savior 

who would change his ill behavior 

and bring small boy's mother back

because she saw only the facts -

small boy's father had no savior. 

Rude, sadistic, greedy, reckless

small boy's father had a checklist

marking each word with a gun

of all the things he had become

putting closer to his temple

the cold steal felt very gentle,

he found his savior – it was the gun. 

Thats how the simple story goes

of a small boy's father's foes

that started off with a clear bottle

which brought nothing but a startle 

to the small boy's fragile world

in which his family was hurled

by a red and silver bottle.