Hard Times Rag by Deborah Sage

Hey buddy, I’m down on my luck,

Maybe you could spare a buck, or a

Helping hand since I’m living hand to

Mouth in hard times, a

Hardscrabble life you know. I’m telling

You, I’m working tooth and nail,

Through thick and thin,

Just to make ends meet.

 

Hey brother, can you spare a dime,

I only need a little this time, because

You know, I’ll tell you, heart to heart,

Man to man, I mean to clean up

My act, that’s a fact or maybe just

Something I heard somebody say,

You know what I mean, about

Coming clean.

 

I could use a drink, beer I think or

Rebel Yell, what the Hell, maybe

Jim Beam to steady my nerves. I used to

Have nerves of steel, like Superman,

Yeah, the man of steel, till I

Started to steal and went on the lam,

Got myself in a jam, you know.

 

Hey buddy,

I ain’t asking much, it’s touch and

Go these days. You got a light, or a

Fix to fix what ails me? No, well,

Hallelujah to the heartless.

About the Poet:

Deborah Sage is a native of Kentucky, USA. She has most recently been published in Eternal Haunted Summer, Literary LEO, Fairy Tale Magazine, From the Farther Trees, the 2022 Dwarf Stars Anthology , Amethyst Press All Shall Be Well anthology for Julian of Norwich and Eye to the Telescope.