63700
He never allowed us to play cards
Not even Tunk, Pitty Pat or
The long and boring game of war
No compromise for the absence of aces
Jacks, queens and kings
And the things that resembled the devil’s traps
His right hand sweeping down upon us
Like biblical Revelations style thunder claps
But gawd help my brother, sister and me
When we left the family house and were finally free
To breath the fresh air and 52 card scent
Hell bent to learn the latest and hottest game
The thing that turned the meek into monsters
And Spades was its name
It was the latest and hottest thing
Ya digged
And God help your partners if they came up short
Overbooked or renigged
Family friendly summer barbeques in my uncle’s back yard
Choose your partner wisely
Because they all coming at you hard
Five hundred points
And five tables full of family
Couples
Starting the day on a happy marital course
The end of the night they was ready to file for divorce
And I saw cousins swear like sailors
And one of them was a preacher
Another a politician
Another, a school teacher on the ground with fists
Flying left to right in the late night mist
Daddy was right
No card playing in our house
Not even on the low
Not even a simple game of innocent and colorful Uno
I ain’t played in a while
A reformed spades addict who spent
All my energy sent
Sending my opponents to Boston
Crawling there by every inch of a ruler
Me and my partner enjoying their misery
Sipping on an ice cold black cherry wine cooler
And I had no plans to get up off my chair at the folding grey table
I was gonna out play all comers
For as long as I was able
My daddy now in heaven warned me
Every word he said was true
I shoulda never learned how to play spades
Too many escapades witnessed and right in the middle
Smack dab right in it
Last hand, last game played
And I’m gonna be down right to the last minute
