she said
i saw my own cross roads in Houston, Texas
there with no money, no nothin' but
the clothes I wore and my soul-mate,  
                                                        dying

she said
i saw a darkness creep up his leg,
a phantom if I ever saw one out-
maneuver the surgeons who could
do nothing but say,  
                             wherever it stops

she said
i had fell to knees that morning & prayed
not for food or shelter or cleanliness but
for him and me for him

she said
i lived on fear and coffee and cigraettes
with pain pills that kept me running
night & day until the grace of others
fed me, comforted me . . . . Amazed me

she said
right below the knee it stopped, just
above the knee they took it without
anaesthesia or hesitation

she said
just before it stopped, almost right before
i bargained . . . You hear me!?
i bartered all what was left to me with
ole Scratch for his life,  
                                  for him from me

she said
I dunno if love superseded that old devil
or perhaps my silent deal gave him
these past two, five, seven years cut from my worth

she said
i don't care much which anymore
except that i'd do it again,  
                                       from me  
                                          for him.