the man tommy

tommy was a working stiff
no shade no shame
he toiled in his whites
in the service halls of the hospital
and in the basement food store where
he toted and delivered all the stuff they gave him
push this truck to white cafeteria please tommy
the new dietitian would say
you never get over that noise

at lunchtime he went to beacon hill pub
and drank his slippery nipples
his wife worked down at the stop and shop
and sometimes she would join him in her hotness
but did you ever have a moment when you knew
the exact second you fucked up
when you could feel the indifferent shift of fate
the good luck and the bad standing on the turn
that was tommy in his moment and it went to shit

coming back on the job from the pub one afternoon
tommy felt mighty tired
he and the wife had been up all night 
doing that thing giving it a good go and he was beat 
the food store was huge and full of boxes
so he made a little den and went to sleep
no one missed him and they all screwed off home
the new dietitian thought she was the last one out
locking the door to set the alarm
and tommy was in for the duration

he awoke from foul dreams in the dark
poked out his nose like the outhouse mouse
saw his catastrophe in all its horror
and started in to cussin
he didnt dare put on a light but
he had his smokes and his lighter
he knew where the birthday candles were kept 
for the sad patients who needed them
and he set himself up a little bivouac
i have to wait this motherfucker out he said
he found a couple hits of acid in his pocket
and he ate them just to pass the time away
and after a while things began to stretch and shimmer
he started tripping to beat shit
hallucinating like a pig

poor man how he suffered
not from fear or psychosis but thirst
by the light of precarious candles
he started to forage and search
and found where they kept the good liquor for
the doctors and the board members and
other lovers of people
they wont mind if i take a little drink he thought
they got plenty here
but the wobbling shadows got him down
and the loneliness fucked with his head
he started to weep and rock and
he lurched to the phone on the desk and called home

baby im stuck he yelled
you got to help me
he could hear the tv on at home
his wife said baby did you hear
president reagan been shot
i dont give a fuck shouted tommy
get me outta this shit
yeah some crazy kid went and
shot the president but he aint dead yet
but by now the horrors 
formed and loomed around
our questing tommy
he busted out the fire exit and
tried to outrun the alarms

it took four security
to get him to emergency
where they put the haldol to him
quick as shit
then they took him to mcclain
for to shake the ghosts away
and to wait
for his wandering mind to show

well what are you gonna do
after a stunt like that
the hospital had to let him go
and his wife liked to kid him
as she rustled in her buzz
about that camping trip he took
in eighty one