Late Nights

A bottle, a bar,
Darkened rings under heavy eyes,
A man, a marriage,
Broken nearly at the same time.

A tab, a son,
Growing yet going unnoticed,
A job, a family,
The man is absent from both.

An insult, a drunk,
A fight late into the night,
A funeral, a casket,
One more dead from a knife’s sharp bite.