Raise your glasses

You could die of thirst

in the amount of time

it takes to get a drink

(Barman, please! 

Barman!

Over here!)

But when that pint arrives

across the wooden bar and

pulls you from the brink ...

Raise your glasses....

Let’s drink to you, 

and let’s drink to me

and drink to all, 

for all they be

a toast to every silver maid

and to every fool

their thoughts un-played

Let’s drink to the future

Let’s drink to our history

and all of the wonders 

of life in its mystery

And when finally done

and our glasses are gone

let’s raise a toast

to the staggering moon

Let’s drink to our families

Let drinking commence

Let’s raise up our glasses

as the recompense

For the lost and lonely

and the souls of the dead

for the millions of homeless

and for those without bread

Let’s drink for a lifetime

together in chains

to the liquor that binds us

and its happy disdain

Let’s drink to our country

and the drought of the Earth

to the damage we've done

and the trouble we're worth

Let’s drink to the average

to the one-out-of-five

to the kids with no water

and their fight to survive

Let’s raise up our glasses

so golden and full

Let’s drink till we’re stupid

and our thinking is dull

Let’s forget all their troubles

and just bury them all

under glasses of amber

so we don’t face the call

Let’s drown all their misery

in a lake of our choosing

at the end of a glass 

you can win when you’re losing

(Barman, please!

Barman, over here!)

You could die of thirst

in the amount of time

it takes to get a drink... 

 Steve Wheeler © 1 July, 2021

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