A Couple Of Drinks Behind Poem by georgios andritsos

I was walking down an alley
huddled in my raincoat.
the streets were deserted,
cold and dark.
all at once, I heard a sound.
I stopped and listened.
a man came trudging and pushing
a shopping cart out from a corner.
it was packed with scarps of metal;
bend pipes, radiators, tires, wheels and
crowbars.
the man wore a grey beard, a thick woolen beanie,
and his tattered coat was too small for his body.
he stopped, coughed loudly and
took a good look at me.
I looked back and he waved me over.
“do you have weeds? ” he said
I brought out a pack and shook one out
his brown eyes followed my moves
we lit the cigarettes and smoked.
as if by magic he produced
a small bottle of rum
drunk a drink and said.
“she keeps me warm in nights like this…
and if she is in a good mood,
she sings to me a little, ” he said and smiled.
I smiled back
“friend… do you know what’s the problem with people? ” he said.
“what? ” I said
“there are always a couple of drinks behind, ” he said and
drunk a drink from his bottle.
then he wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his coat,
tucked the bottle inside his coat pocket and pulled
the collar of his coat together at his throat.
and we stood there in the deserted, cold and dark street
smoking as if waiting for someone to come or something to happen.
I never saw that man again.