One
My poor little dog went to live on a farm,
Daddy drove her over with the Ford.
A link is missing from our small family.
Two
Mom got cancer; dad drank himself to death.
I went to live with my grandparents in Delaware,
Waving goodbye to my friends as we departed.
Three
My first girlfriend and I went our separate ways,
It tilted the stable axis of my whole world.
I was over it by the next Wednesday.
Four
My small business failed and went bankrupt
And my wife had to help shoulder the burden,
That day marked my fall to booze and bourbon.
Five
Our first baby was supposed to be a girl,
But she never uttered that first wailing gurgle.
So, we cried instead of our little baby Grace.
Six
It was just passed midnight, and I received a message.
A photo, from a friend, of my wife kissing another man.
The divorce papers were delivered come morning.
Seven
‘I failed to win custody of our two children,’
I whispered into a glass of Canadian Club -
Drinking to the point of complete collapse.
But, because time doesn’t wait,
I brush off the dirt, and I set my back straight -
I may fall seven times, but I stand up eight.
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