Golden Hour Blues

she wears a yellow ribbon only on Tuesdays pinned to the straps of her apron when she knows the old veteran will be seated at table 6 he leaves a respectable tip. two eggs over easy, on biscuits and gravy a plate stacked with bacon he never partakes in for the brothers he left to bleach in the Iraqi desert… a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do even golden hour looks less flattering on an empty stomach… a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do even a purple heart looks less flattering pinned to an empty coffin… it’s kind of pathetic that the dead might be jealous of such a meager dessert apple pie not made on site a buy-in from ShopRite a symbolic gesture the dead deserve better a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do even golden hour looks less flattering on an empty stomach… a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do even a purple heart looks less flattering pinned to an empty coffin… the country is hurting everyone’s cutting costs where they can eating out less tightening purse strings but here’s this man, who returned less than from an unjust war and here’s this girl making slave wages just trying to feed the hungry and clothe the poor.