The Next One's On Me!

The bar was crowded and smoky,
filled with sodden bodies, trying to relieve
the ache of failed lives.
At the bar a couple explored the edges
of each other, he anxious, she wary.

Interrupting the music and the controlled buzz
of conversation, the door flew open,
allowing entry to winter's worst.
Right behind the stinging rain
came the door's impetus wrapped in a London Fog raincoat.

Blonde, wind-blown hair atop blue eyes,
smoky and mysterious,
the face was completed with a sensuous mouth,
curving into an easy smile.  Mm, mm.

"The next round is on me!"
His voice embraced the whole room,
inviting them all to join
his celebration.

The bartender laid off wiping the bar
and started mixing drinks, uncapping bottles of beer
and pulling taps.
"You sure you can afford this, fella?"
The stranger slapped down two hundreds.

"How's this?"
" 'At'll do 'er.  What's the occasion?"
"No occasion.  It's just my desire to relieve other's pain."
And he settled himself at the bar.
"There are stories in this room,
of grinding pain and unending struggle.

"You see that fellow?  The one over there in the corner?
This morning he was married to his high school sweetheart.
Tonight, he found out he's been alone for years.
As he spent each evening here,
she found company with his best friend."

"How do you know that?"
The barkeep looked at the stranger suspiciously.
"Then there's the couple at the end of the bar,"
pointed the stranger, avoiding the question.
"They're both married to others.
The man comes here each night and hits on
a different woman.  The woman
is here because her husband isn't."

The bartender watched the couple as the stranger went on.
"That young man at the juke box is so strung out
he won't live to see the morning."
"Now, wait a minute!" and the innkeeper threw down his rag.
"How do you know this stuff?  Who are you?"

"I?  Why I am the architect of their destruction. 
And I'm here to celebrate my successes."
Raising his voice to the room, he lifted his hand in invitation.
"The next round's on me!"