Infectious Poem by Roger Hudson

A happy smiling drunk
We don't know
Approaches our table
Smiles an infectious smile

Infected
We smile back

Extends a hand
We shake

An incoherent name
We give ours

An incoherent joke
He laughs
An infectious laugh

Infected
We laugh and go on laughing
Through all the incoherent drunken gibberish
So jolly and well-spirited

A total nothing conversation
That lifts our spirits with pure good humour

But we're pleased when he goes back to his friends
Not being drunk enough ourselves
To speak this language
With assurance
Not knowing when his mood may change
As happens sometimes

With drunks