Billy Knocked Back a Bitter

Billy knocked back a bitter
Looked me in the eye
‘It was all a lie’ he declared
‘What was?’ I tentatively inquired
‘MDMA, when were young, taking it at the clubs’
‘Aye, you’re not 19 forever’
‘You’d be there, buzzing off your tits
A shy, awkward geek chatting all night with one of the cool kids
Fuckboy 101
You’d talk about life, death, your fears, and hopes
The meaning of the universe
Then you part ways with a sweaty hug, like you’ve bonded
The barriers betwixt nerd and lad lay in ruins’
‘How beautiful a thing’
Billy gestured to the barkeep to refill his pint glass
‘Except’ he continued ‘you see the cunt on campus 2 days later
You wave and say ‘hi’ wearing a daft grin
And they storm right past you
Showing you up in front of your course mates
They pause to look your way with an expression of contempt
Which conveys they hold you in lower esteem
Than the shit on the bottom of their shoe’
‘The Great British night out’ I chime in sardonically
‘It was all a lie, all that MDMA’
‘Where’s the truth to be found?’
‘I don’t know’ Billy shook his head ‘bloody tap water maybe’
‘It’s a shame the Brits are like that, everyone needs music and dance
You see a tribe in a Bruce Parry doc
They know how to share something like that
Without the British style of casual cruelty tainting it
Why do our lot find it impossible to have something like that?’
‘The Vikings came, took all the pretty women
And killed the men brave enough to defend them
The skulking cowards left behind to reproduce are our ancestors
So we’re stuck in this mess’
Billy’s sixth bitter arrived
He downed it in two between drags on a fag
I was quite impressed