Uncle Lloyd Testo

He was not my father❝s brother
But he wished that he could be
Told us kids to call him uncle
And we would be his family
He had a wife and kids in Fresno
The youngest one was twenty-four
Dad had brought him into our house
They didn❝t want him anymore
He helped us work the family business
Building fences in the sun
Worked just like a man of twenty
❝Til the working day was done
He and Dad would spend their evening
Sitting in lawn chairs in the yard
Where they❝d drink a toast to Seagram❝s
Seagram❝s never went down hard
Won❝t you wake up Uncle Lloyd
Got a lot of work today
We❝ll get Don to make the coffee
Load that truck and be on your way
Friday night you can drive to Vegas
Maybe this time you will win
Buy a trailer by the river
And you won❝t have to work again
He was sleeping in the workroom
With a mattress on the floor
When one night I heard him crying
As I passed outside his door
He cried, 'Rita, girl I love you
Rita, Darling please don❝t go
I❝ve tried hard to make you happy
I❝ve done everything I know'
Then I heard the bottle open
The tipping up and putting down
Heard the rustling of the covers
Then he did not make a sound
I thought of thirty years of Rita
Standing sternly by his side
All the years of hanging in there
All the emptiness inside
Then I thought of how their children
Have children of their own
And how a man at fifty-seven
Winds up living so alone