Tango Mortale

Tango.

Deadly tango.

---

Though you want me dead,

With a bullet in my head,

You’re bold enough to dance,

To play a game of chance,

To roll your dice ‘gainst God,

To gamble on the odds.

---

Though you want me crawling,

And from my heaven falling,

I’ll never give you this,

This joyful hollow bliss,

Of watching my demise,

And coining my black eyes.

---

I’ll be damned if I am mastered,

By a trigger-happy bastard,

Who lacks my style and class;

Who does his work too fast;

Who bears a conscience light,

And murders in the night.

---

So I’ll take you for a dance,

A gunman’s cold romance,

To see if you can move,

Against a bullet’s groove.

---

And watch you when you falter,

Shot from Heaven’s Alter,

And catch you when you stumble,

Your hidden piece to tumble,

As I bury in my blade,

To end this masquerade,

And whisper in your ear,

For only you to hear:

---

“ Welcome to my tango,

My deadly, five-step tango.

You’ve tried to keep the beat,

To cool my body heat.

…But you missed a step too-many,

And paid a pretty penny.

You’ve tried to play me smart,

--But I’ve pierced your foolish heart!

And nothing now remains,

‘Cept the throes of dying pains.

And as your spirit leaves you,

Let nothing light deceive you,

For, though you hear God’s bell,

He’s sending you to hell.”