WE WERE FREE, PART TWO

We were young men from Wheeling–

Mac and Wally and Ted and I–

Thrown together by chance, or fate

When we joined the *CCC.

We had such good times

After we returned home.

We became life-long friends.

Mac and Ted lived alone in town.

Mac’s and Ted’s stepmothers threw them out after

They came in too many times after midnight.

Walter only had his dad who lived in Pittsburgh,

But he was able to stay with an older sister.

All four of us once tried to sell home appliances.

Mac was the only one who ever got really good.

He ended up always selling something.

Ted was the first to get killed in an auto accident.

Unfortunately, Mac ended up an alcoholic.

Lost his wife and children because he never quit.

Walter finally went into his dad’s trade—house painting.

He was phenomenally good at it, too.

He taught me (Bob) enough to earn a living.

Walt ended up in life very lonely. He had no children.

And his heart broke when his wife died.

I managed to get lucky, married an Irish gal

Who straightened me up. Of course, I wasn’t alcoholic.

We lived together fifty-four years, happily.

It has been very lonely since she died but,

I do have some wonderful memories to cheer.

*Civilian Conservation Corps