Hardship

From wasted youth
Hardship and deliquincy
''Join the army, they'll square you away''

He thought as he took a swig
Of Night Train,
The cheap rut gut that is said
To go down as smooth as sand paper

What garbage, what shit having to accept
All these orders, all these commands
From a bunch of idiots
Who all thought they knew better

So one day he belted one
Got discharged dishonorably

So who cares, who gives a fuck about authority
He reflected as he sat in his tent by the pillar
Under the highway and surrounded
By the constant roar of traffic whizzing by

The roar, the constant noise
The pain in his brain from childhood
Memories of don't do this, don't do that
And the hits and the belting - on him
And on his mother, a saint.

The Night Train helped so much
To keep just a bit of sanity
As he fed bits of food to that stray dog
His only companion since Wilma,
Who shared his tent for a while
Died of an overdose

Just another day under
So many meaningless
Pillars.