SSG Week 22 - Old Man

There was a man, his name unknown
He want from town to town
His back-pack, and a guitar
Were carried with a frown
Some people said he was a drunk
And looked at him with hate
But I sat around to hear him play
When I was only eight

He told me stories of older times
And places far away
He used to be a soldier
In his younger days
For his country he had marched
With his rifle that he shot
It was for his fair country
He had bravely fought

One day they had told him
He couldn't fight no-more
He'd been accused of stealing guns
And selling them off-shore
These lies had drove him to the drink
He was haunted by the taunts
Of fellow soldiers laughing
At all of their old haunts

When the man rode into town
I always liked to talk
He seemed to like my company
As I followed on his walks
But one day Daddy told me
I couldn't talk to him again
And it's that what drove me and him
To talking with a pen

When I grew old I found that man
Some 80 years of age
And still after all these years
In conversation we engaged
I share a drink with my friend
Who's life went badly wrong
And now he sits with his guitar
While I sing this song