Ole Sam Just Don’t Know when to Quit

Ole Sam Just Don’t Know when to Quit
    
Streetwise there is no more to life  
Than a guitar strum by varicose veined arms  
Of a minstrel who couldn’t give up smoking  
Without lying to himself  
Because it was too late for lungs to repair  
What God and nicotine hath wrought  
When fate had its way with him    
On the downslope of the up feeling  
Like when the lights are dimmed to let the night in  
And the off chance of a soulful groove  
Takes him by surprise  
When he plays to a crowd  
Too young die    
But old enough to get it