Don't Take Money From the Man in Blue
The city was empty and so was my mind
The sky was gray and no clouds in sight
Judging by the drink in my hand, the clouds were in my mind.
I listened to the sounds of traffic
The shrill ballad of road ragers convince me to dance.
However, a woman runs up to me
Her eyes were blue and scared
Her hair blonde and tattered
And she pulled me close to her lips.
She whispers
Don’t take money from the man in blue.
She ran away and left me baffled
Yet, I was drunk and could’ve imagined this
I carried on with thoughts inundating my mind
Listening to the sound of my own voice.
Yet again though, I was halted by a hand
A hand so shriveled and old that I must take pity.
My eyes gaze to the rest of hand’s body and I see a man
A man in blue.
He tells me that he had found a $100 bill and wanted to return it
The warnings dissipated and I felt a hunger for greed.
I tell him it’s mine and thank him for his time
And never realized how he stared as I walked away.
Two days fly by and I am covered in panic.
The woman’s face showed up in the paper
The article read that she was found dead
At the bottom of a nearby river.
I haven’t showered since then and all I do is ponder
What if I had just listened to her?
What if I had refused him?
The night sky was grim and the moon reprimanded me
For my mistakes.
I bury my face in my hands, drowning in the silence.
Suddenly, there’s a knock on the door and I resurface.
I open the door and there he is
Looking much younger than before.
“I know why you’re here,” I say and he nods
And tells me it has to be this way.
I invite him to the sofa and there we talked for hours.
He told me that he’s been doing this for a millenia
After losing a bet with the devil.
He bragged about how he was the greatest violinist
But Satan disagreed.
I asked him if I would feel a thing and he shook his head
He preferred to make it painless.
I closed my eyes and waited in silence
Before his lips touched mine and I was engulfed in death.
The world is a terrible place to live in.
Liars, beggars, cheaters, and murderers will roam
But not without punishment
Not without justice.
If you think your soul is pure, Satan will disagree
And he will give you a test or strike a deal.
Go with the former so I can run to you and say
Don’t take money from the man in blue.