A Peculiar Gentleman

“Good sir, there is a gentleman
Make haste, for he’s a sight
He’s screaming horror from his mind
We fear he may take flight”

Not quite dark with bright stars when
My feverish apprentice came
And so we rushed so we could find
The man of such ill fame

He tried to strike me down
Charging me with wretched luck
The child with the parcel next
Dreadful screaming as he struck

Then silence came from the town
As the man stopped with gravity
His manic face had changed to vexed
But eyes filled still with depravity

He pointed at the skies
And screamed a name I did not know
With his mouth still opened wide
He fell to the ground below

He coughed a rose into his arm
Said as he closed his eyes
“In a week’s time, you’ll be like me
May the Lord be by your side.”