1940 Pittsburgh, PA

  Spent men went to bars then.
  They were iron workers from
  hell's furnaces with parched
  thirst needing beer and fun.

  They cursed bosses and dealt
  cards and forgot the pain.
  They went home drunk with
  midnight's bar songs again.

  Sleeping kids and skeptic wife
  greeted him in angry silence.
  Up at dawn for another shift
  and a beer to face the violence.