Too little
to sit at the grown-ups table,
I was shooed away
when the cards
came out.

Listening
at the grate,
his muffled
anger
drifted up thick
on cigarette
smoke.

We were both
annoyed,
cheated
out of what we
desired.

But little
did I know then,
born the child
of a drunkard,
I had already
been dealt
the worst
of hands.