Alone at a bus stop one night I stood,
And thoughts of my life soon turned to despair,
At all I had done, and all I still could,
I lit up a jack to lessen my care,

No sooner had I exhaled the first puff,
Than stood there a vision, a man entire,
He spoke in a voice both smokey and gruff,
And bade me to name my heart's true desire,

"Tell me young man, what do you wish for?"
"Release I wish from the boredom of life,
I want to be free of the struggle for more,
I'm restless in peace, but seek it in strife,"

I started to say, then paused for a drag,
Spilling the smoke I went on with a breath,
"These days at my job make me want to gag,
If that's all there is then I wish for death."

A moment of silence shared in the night,
The dark form beside me once again spake,
"I can't grant what you ask, try though I might,
But one day your life I will surely take."

The figure departed, gone in a flash,
Vanished in flesh though still his voice lingers,
Alone at a bus stop, clutching at ash,
I stood in the dark with burning fingers.