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Last Orders

Author: Peter Burns

Last Orders!

A Bell Tolls, Time!

The weary take their damp scribbled lists,

Wading through a human surf

To The Front,

Smoke coiling round their ankles,

Each and every torturous step,

A gaseous bolero seeking to trip,

As the noise in confluence folds,

Flowing round every corner,

Rebounding,

Echoing into a roar.

'You know the score!',

The leader implores,

'Just one more before we go.'

Get them,

In.

Get them,

Down!

Then, we staggered out the door

Deafened

By the silence now closing within

Above what was once a bustling,

Ear shattering din.

In a rag tagged formation

We marched our separate ways.

No more Orders,

That's for sure.

Well,

Trying to desist,

A sobriety thirst,

Compelled a need to re-enlist.

So we answered the call,

And marched in orderly rank,

Back,

Through that welcoming door,

Uniting,

Friends, once more.