Taste of champagne

   
One of my girls    
got talking to me tonight  
   
asking if ever thought    
about going back    
in the game,  
   
it was a    
good question    
but she was always    
a hard hitter in    
that way  
   
I said things change  
my lovely,    
   
situations pull us    
in all kinds of    
directions  
   
and people    
like us evolve  
into what we  
are born to do  
   
I kept my response    
to that alone;  
   
knowing she    
pulled herself out    
from disaster by    
making it her    
entire career  
   
   
and fuck do I  
love her dearly  
for it and wish    
nothing but    
happiness.  
   
   
In my truthfulness    
it aint exactly the same  
as it was back then  
   
where you could    
easily wrangle two    
fifty in exhange    
for a couple of    
feet pictures  
   
or if you're bold  
enough, squeeze    
between five or    
five-fifty for    
a good solo    
   
cause you're    
a young cat    
with little    
to lose,  
   
I don't think    
I need to explain  
how much more  
I squeezed out    
of people    
   
who demanded  
an entire circus    
for a service  
   
but money was  
flowing more fluid  
around then,  
   
everybody    
has latched    
onto this kind    
of work now  
   
people often  
don't see it as craft  
but I believe it's
unappreciated    
kind of art  
   
there are    
people out there    
who master it well,  
make careers out    
of these rituals  
just like my    
girl did  
   
got herself    
a house last year  
but I know the  
moves she took  
to finally get  
there,  
   
back then    
it was a mean    
to an end    
for me  
   
sure, I had  
my moments    
of champagne    
fucking glory    
   
not getting myself    
mad but taking    
everything    
I could,  
   
these days  
I move different  
to help other  
people  
   
I want them to  
taste champagne    
glory I once did  
years ago,  
   
knowing how  
it feels having    
very little to    
call your    
own.