THE HIGHWAY

I was driving down the broad highway,

Where I met the old ragged man,

He said he had gone astray,

In this vast unknown land.

I asked him to sit in my beautiful black car,

This was my latest obsession and pride.

On the highway it shone like a black star,

Driving it, all my ill feelings died.

He sat beside me staring straight ahead,

I guess, I caught a glimpse of tear in his eye,

His eyes were a crimson red.

I offered him some food, which he didn't deny,

He ate all of it, in just a matter of time.

To strike a conversation then, I asked him his name,

He broke up then, and related to me about a horrible crime.

As he spoke, I got a feeling that he was insane,

But he spoke with the coldness which said the other way.

He told me how his wife and children were murdered,

On this very, broad highway,

About how he had been robbed,

And since then his life had become hell,

And how since then he wandered about.

Hearing all of this my eyes went swell,

The road ahead had begun to blur out.

Then, there came a chilling silence in between us,

And I saw something shining, with the corner of my eye.

Looking at the large knife I began to lose my guts,

And so, I began to slow down my drive.

He calmly held the knife around my neck,

I pulled out all my money, which was quite a heavy stack.

He took all the money shaking his head,

And the smile on his face told me I was dead.

He told me that, one must never be kind,

Think twice while giving lift to people on the highway,

He too had done that being out of his mind,

And had lost everything within a day.

I pulled the car beside a signboard, which read forty,

I begged him to take the money and leave me alone.

Smiling at me he said, 'The money is for my body,

But, this (stabbing me) is for my soul.'