Belly Up

It was that calm before a tempest blew through the town

It was that stillness before a crack of lighning pierces the sky

It was that silent bubble of air before you drown

It was that gentle breeze before a thousand drops fall in the night

I was next to my window, watching the greyness up above

Predicting when the first bolt would strike the ground

Then, I heard the sound of a body receiving a hard shove

Before I heard the unloading of a round

I look out my window to see a man floating on the pavement

His wounded body slick with liquid rubies

The street is quiet with no sign of movement

While the man coughs up bloody loogies

Twenty minutes later, police found a dead man belly up

His murderer taught him what happened to people that were corrupt