You Stole My Smile
          Copyright c 2006 John Trubee

           You stole my smile
           You lifted my laugh
           My glad child vanished
              superceded by a surly adult
              who argues politics instead of
              playing music

          Those decades of stupid work
          Years of tedium
          Meager dollars flowing through my time
               eroded the ore of my laughter
               depositing the scourge of a dead river
               of a phlegmatic, diminished old fuck
               forever searching
               for his lost laughter
 
          Yes, I willingly imprison myself
               into eternal tediums
               and empty, repetitive movements
               only for the money  
               which vanquish my fight
               and steal my laughter.