I felt him before I saw him

As I slowly lifted my chin

Stench, something worse than death

Heat pulsing from blistered skin

He smiled with eerie confidence

Showing teeth, sharp, caked with grime

Took a fat ledger from his coat and said

“I’ve come to collect what is mine”

“Let’s talk about that gal in Reno

Or the only you left in Baton Rouge

You broke a few hearts, didn’t you boy

So, it’s my job to now break you”

He hissed and spoke, he shook his coat

So the brimstone would fall away

He said “Let’s not forget all that whiskey

No damn way I’ll overlook the mescaline”

Roached crawled around his boots

The ground beneath us shook

As he read down my list of crimes

The sky went dark, like the end of times

Oh, just like the end of times

“How about your boy, the one you never raised

Today he’s sitting in a county cell

Or the widow your made back in Omaha

I’ll let you share her privet hell”

“You got me dead to rights, Old Scratch

I won’t fight you, and I won’t crawl

But give me one small moment so I

Can say a little pray for your soul”

His jaw clenched, his face twitched

Yet he never said a word

Stuffed that old ledger in his coat

And broke a grin as he turned