The Barfly

I met an old man one night in a bar
 He was sitting alone
 The way men his age always are
 His movements were slow
 Didn't speak very well
 But every old man has a story to tell
 He lived by the book
 Went to church every day
 But his wife left him young
 With two daughters and bills to pay
 He worked himself hard
 And the years flickered past
 His girls kept him young
 But they grew up so fast
 Prodigal faith always felt second best
 When she turned seventeen
 She took her coat and her camera
 And headed west
 It broke her dad's heart
 But as he likes to say
 With enough time apart
 Even faith fades away
 Jenny met Ray in his last days ashore
 They married in May
 And that August he joined the war
 He said Jenny don't cry
 I'll be home in the fall
 So she held her head high
 And said nothing at all
 Then he got in a plane
 Took it up in the air
 It never came down
 For all she knows it's stlil
 Flying around up there
 Then Jenny went wrong
 And the last that I heard
 It's been seven years long
 Since she uttered a word
 Seven years gone
 Since she uttered a word
 Now her father just sits
 All alone at the bar
 He orders his drinks
 And smokes cigarettes
 He knows he can't afford
 He's got no regrets
 Says he's doing quite well
 But every old man
 Has a story to tell