Dead Short

The Ballad Of Backwards Billy

'He lived as he died' is often said about those adept at sinning

For the man named Backwards Billy, the end was the beginning

He started life at fifty-six when unhit by a car

He was hired next day for heavy drinking at the local bar.

He divorced into a marriage at the age of forty-eight

He unmet his wife years down the line at their first and final date.

For a crime he would one day commit he unspent time in the brig

Where he painfully gained virginity to a man named 'Mr Big'.

He was unmanhandled out the gates by the swarthy warder thugs

Then the police force unarrested him and gave him lots of drugs.

Through adolescence he reversed with stubble unascending jaw-ward

He swore and drank way too much, and played satanic music forward.

He receded through his childhood becoming steadily less clever

Soon enough, a bright pink romper suit replaced his stylish leather.

With a final screaming, tortured cry he was forced into the womb

Until in time became just another sperm, awaiting a baby boom.

And the moral to this backwards tale? The message that I send?

Be good and pure from the start of life, or meet a sticky end.