Nicky Poem by Francis Duggan

I saw him on the street this morning and he looked a sorry sight
He had stiches in his eyebrows he was in another fight
He always wears the scars of battle after night out on pub crawl
He's not learnt from experience some don't ever learn at all

He is two or three with fifty those who know him better say
And he has not learnt from experience Nicky's always been this way
He's okay till he takes whiskey, whiskey goes straight to his head
Cannot teach an old dog new tricks wiser words have not been said.

Drink has caused his marriage breakup Eliza to him was good wife
But he was the cruelest husband he gave her the hardest life
She was often seen with black eyes some poor women know it tough
And from him she copped many beatings till she cried enough's enough.

She left and with her took their children that was many years ago
And to where she went and where she live now few if any seem to know
Some say she has since re-married others say that isn't so
And of Nicky's wife Eliza speculation seem to grow

Those who know the worthy woman said for her 'twas lucky day
That she went with son and daughter and took a trip to far away
She had grown to detest Nicky and of his beatings she was free
And for herself and her young children a future elsewhere she could see.

For his fondness of hard liquor Nicky still is paying the price
But he warrant little pity after all he has a choice
Drink an enemy to many and it has been Nicky's downfall
And he wears the scars of battle the day after his pub crawl.