Be faithful to your dreams

I wrote this a few years ago when I was travelling. It was early morning and the sun was coming up. I was waiting for a friend and watching the other bar flies and I kept reading a neon sign that I had seen so many times...and came up with this...not quite me...but it got me thinking...


On a hard wood bar stool
slouched over the counter
I feel so tired
my head drooping
my hand on the cold highball glass
infront of me.

I'm not the only one
there are other people
that have been here for years too
drowning their own sorrows.

The lights are dim
and the smell of cigar smoke strong
a cigarrette slowly dies beside me
I see the looks people give me
they think I'm pathetic
but these are my only friends.

The old lonely guy in the corner
he's been here since the place opened
he understands.

The three-toothed drunk
gives me that look,
but he knows the truth
I have always been untouchable.

And the bartender,
he used to be cute
but this place has affected him too
the tales show on his aging face.

The night fades away to the dawn
and the neon light above our heads
dims and flickers and surrenders.
The sign has been here for years.
It has a message for us,
in all its tacky glow
it reads "be faithful to your dreams."

I've read that sign every night for years
and it's finally kicking in.
It's telling the old lonely guy,
the three-tooted drunk,
the aged bartender,
and myself,
"Go Home."
The day is done, the night is over.

But we will be back tomorrow,
because we don't know what else to do.
We've lost our way,
and can't find our way back.

Sure we remember those old flames.
We remember reaching for the stars,
but we fell so many times,
we fell so hard,
and we landed here
and we haven't left since.

As we leave the old bar,
I read the sign once more,
"be faithful to your dreams"
and as always
I hug my friends good-bye
but tonight it is different,
for tomorrow,
I will not return.