Black Ticket

They took my money, every coin I had,

Left me nothing but a wolf's pass.

One-way ride with no way back,

Thrown aboard and moving fast.

 

The letters fade before I read them,

Like I'm not meant to know the way.

Scratched-out codes and shattered numbers,

No departure board, no display.

I don't know where this goes,

I don't know when it ends.

All I know is something waits

Beyond the dark ahead.

 

I don't know where this goes,

I don't know what remains.

Only tracks beneath the wheels

And ghosts behind the rain.

Then a drunken conductor grins,

And for a second shows his hoof.

Toothless smile, the door swings open,

Snow blows through the broken roof.

 

With the eyes of a beaten stray dog,

He whispers softly, "Just believe."

In a carriage thick with smoke,

There's nothing left to leave.

 

No seats inside that rusted coffin,

Frozen blood upon the floor.

Someone shoves me, laughing loudly: "Welcome home."

And the train begins to roar.

I don't know where this goes,

I don't know when it ends.

All I know is something waits

Beyond the dark ahead.

 

I don't know where this goes,

I don't know what remains.

Only tracks beneath the wheels

And ghosts behind the rain.

The platforms blur to empty stations,

No names in sight, only the cold,

A leaden seam of blackened heavens,

Where the bending mountains fold.

 

With a screeching cry, he breathes out winter,

And leaps from the step into the storm.

"Now you're in charge here: you're in charge."

Dissolved into hoofbeats before the dawn.