In the continuing series at the request of my eldest daughter and based on The Twilight Zone, Season 1: Episode 26:

Execution
by Michael Romani

In the twilight's quiet contribution
There is a tale of simple retribution
The story opens somewhat heartily 
Outlaw Joe Caswell is to dance at a necktie party
Although the thought is a little grim
There is nothing innocent about him

When the good Lord passed out morality
He must have meant a lesson in this fatality
Soon enough passing into a dark eternity
The evil of men like him lives on in infamy
His last victim was no kind of showdown
The boy's father likens this hanging to a hoe-down

Pappy calls him out for a prolonged end to his world
Wishing for a kicking just as his life is unfurled
The hanging judge proclaims Caswell a disease
Feeling sanctified in this service that will please
A slap of the horse's backside and the noose goes empty
Caswell wakes up 80 years later in a laboratory

A scientist has pulled him into a new age
It doesn't take a lot, certainly not a sage
Sooner than later, the rope burns are seen
The scientist is disquieted by this human being
Caswell has had plenty of time to sleep
And his curiosity for the modern world won't keep

Twenty plus he admit have died by his cruel hand
The scientist seeks justice and doesn't comprehend
Words such as these go down and all too easy
But the excuse of staying alive brokers little sympathy
Soon the scientist become just one more death
And soon the scientist's words are all that are left

Lost in a concrete jungle of noise and neon lights
The outlaw struggles through the crowded city night
It's all a little too overwhelming for his taste
On and through this loud night, he runs with haste
A shoot out with a television show is the final straw
There's just too much confusion for his fast draw

He finds his way back to the New York City laboratory
Only to find another robber who has his own story
In the desperate struggle that so soon ensues
The draw cord of the blinds is fashioned as a noose
Rifling through the possessions leaves him empty handed
"Thou shall not kill", the good Lord has commanded

Accidentally switching the time machine to on
With a flicker of lights and buzz, he's soon gone
Sent back in a flash to that other waiting time
Filling the hangman's noose for his murderous crime
It's the Devil's work that is apparently at play
As the judge and the priest wonder who they hang today

In this lingering aftermath of a necktie party
Thief Paul Johnson has become a part of history
It seems that justice can indeed span the years
Retribution is not subject to a calendar's tears
This is again found to be especially true
When the Twilight Zone pays the Devil's dues

(c) July 15, 2017  Michael Romani
All Rights Reserve