The red button

"It’s just a button, innit? Just a bit of plastic..." "Push it, face-ache. Do it." Two suns ago, the gravel crunched outside A man in black, with nowhere left to hide He held a case, gripped it tight in his hand Like a shadow walking ‘cross a dying land I don’t usually open up my door to no one But something felt cold… like a setting sun. One little button, sitting on the pine One poor soul, reaching end of the line A hundred thousand, tax-free and gold For a stranger’s life… or so I’m told. He laid it down, that circle made of red "A stranger falls," was all that fella said No face, no name, just a glitch in the screen A nameless ghost in the Great Machine I felt the hunger, yeah, I felt the greed A hundred thousand… for a dirty deed. He came back ‘round when the moon was high To take the button and to say goodbye Ten stacks of paper on the wooden floor He tucked the silence back inside the door "And now?" I asked, my voice a hollow shell He grinned a grin… that came straight from hell. "The button travels to a hand that’s new..." He tipped his hat and he looked right through... "Don't you shiver, D... don't lose your rest. It ain't no one you know... who'll put you to the test."