Lonely Numbered Cards

Beyond the churches where men stand tall enough to talk to God
Beyond the cities where men are kind enough to pause and nod
Along the highways that lead to everywhere and none
There is a bar where lonely men and women come.
Where music, alcohol, and swaying bodies all conspire
To deaden pain, to heal unwhispered words with fire
Of flesh aroused from sleep and then to meet again
Some other night, some other lonely place when
Men and women shuffled in loneliness meet by chance
like queens and kings to weep and share a dance
Beyond the churches, beyond the fenced in yards,
Where there are no people, but only numbered cards.

And on the night I was loneliest of all,
I won you in a final midnight draw
And fondled you not listening to your name
Or caring save to play the lonely game,
To heal a wound grown deep and hard
And feel the warmth of another numbered card,
Until I saw your eyes so sad and vast
With dreams of home and children splattered in your past
And touched your hand to feel the strain of tears
To share with you the pain of secret fears!

And for and instant you and I were real
Despite the fantasy of place and fated deal
Before we wandered off again to tangled dreams
To bear in loneliness the hurt of silent screams
Beyond the churches and fenced in yards
Where there are no people, but only numbered cards.