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One lottery ticket

and the next day

he became a millionaire

millions of dollars

sitting in his account

he could have donated it all

or spent it on firecrackers

lighting the sky

once and for all

but he chose

a simple life

travelling to places

he had only dreamed of

meeting people

in low-key mode

listening to conversations

ideas

thoughts

spending days

on cruise ships

cheers with champagne

dancing with unknown faces

hiding his identity

as a stockbroker

whenever people asked

Which market should I invest in?

he would disappear

from their sight

weary of giving

a long explanation

about something

he didn’t even know

because whatever he said

would never sound authentic

and then

there she came

out of the blue

a slim cylindrical waist

a velvet one-piece

with a white dove

stitched on her top

as though

she were a peacemaker

coming to negotiate

with the chaos

of his new life

she didn’t know

that the man

standing among the elites

on a luxury ship

used to live

paycheck to paycheck

and still carried

that man inside him

trying to fit in

trying to blend in

like James Bond

while secretly

looking for something

money had failed

to explain

the secrets

of life