John K. Samson
Psalm for the Elks Lodge Last Call
Let the waitress put the chairs up
Let the glasses that you broke
Form a picture of our leader
With a halo made of smoke
Let the golden oldies station crackle and come through
With a final benediction we'll hum along to
Before we say goodnight
Let our talk about the ball game
And the weather show we care
Like a sound we didn't notice
Until it stopped and left us there
With the traffic and our heartbeats beating in straight time
Let our hatred and affection march in the same line
Before we say goodnight
Oh protect our secret handshake once more, with feeling
Let the toast to absent members push through the ceiling
Before we say goodnight