The Devil's Toll

              
don't stand in my shadow
you won't like the beasts that lurk there
spurning me on to my destruction
for just one more sip of its magic
      
but you see it's tragic magic
the kind only the devil deals in
"you can have this gift for a moment
but it will cost you dearly
so write until your heart's content
i'll be there to collect you shortly"
      
it hurts when you feel nothing really
except in times of desperation
then my heart jumps into action
"please don't take all I have from me
I'll beg on my knees just hear me"
      
"I will do better tomorrow"
then tomorrow is here
my prayer changes to...
"please look the other way
while I'm lost inside my sin"
      
"don't let the sun set on me
while I'm a prisoner of my own making
sitting in the very cell I created"
      
I cast a long shadow
with the things I've written
it's born of pain mainly
I've suffered all sorts of indignities
to write the way I do
      
I paid a toll to the devil himself
who will be sure to hang me
within the words I've written
      
scribed in blood
will be words were her life
what an empty lie she lived
never letting any in to love her
      
the moral
you can hug your books tightly
they won't be holding you back
or kissing you goodnight
      
all the time I've wasted writing
I could be investing in a real life
with dreams worth obtaining
      
but then i'm driven by a demon
no don't stand in my shadow
you won't like what it truly costs you