I talked to the Devil

I talked to the Devil

I talked to the Devil just the other day and
I asked him a question just to see what he
might have to say, I said "Hey Devil It has been
very long while since we spoke last but I can
see that the wound healed quite nicely where
I beat your ass" He stopped right there dead in
his tracks then he turned around ever so slowly
then looked me right square in the eyes with
that damn evil grin he always has then he
started rubbing his wound as he said with a snarl
and of course a few bad words out of his filthy
foul mouth "so what is the question that you want
to ask my old friend?" So I thought for just a
minute and I took a big breath and then I stepped
back away, ready for a fight, you see I have
fought many times with the Devil and all of the
demons that he sends and the one thing that
I do know for sure is that Devil will never quit,
never stop, or give up trying to beat you until the
very end so I said "Hey Devil why do you always
need to be so damned mean all of the time?
Have you seen what our broken world looks like?
I mean hell, it is one ugly scene, just look around,
you have us still all fighting over the color of our
skins and no matter how much we try to stop It,
It just never will end. We have wars breaking
out all over this world, all in the name of religion
that has now killed more men, woman, and even
children than all other wars in history combined.
Imagine that is that not damn silly? I mean
killing others in religion's name," then as I shook
my head I said "Well it is at least in my mind, then
we have people dying every day with all kinds of
cancer and other deadly diseases and because of
greed pharmaceutical companies who can cure
them, will not because they want the trillions of
dollars’ worth of research money that they are
given, then we have your greatest weapon yet we
call it an addiction and it is your crown jewel I bet, for
it infects everyone even children too and in fact,
it has even infected me a time or two, along with
many others that I know." Then I started really
thinking about it, I got very mad, so as have done
on many occasions, I raised my fist up and then
started swinging screaming "Hey Devil get ready
to hurt once again because I am going to beat you
down really bad" He jumped back so very quick as
he screamed like a little school girl and said "Hold on,
now wait just a minute I have something that I
want to say" so I said "then you better say it quick
if not you just might want to get on your knees
and pray" So he took a minute to compose himself
then he started to cry just as he shook his head
back and forth as tears begin streaming down from
his pitch black eyes and in a whisper so low that I
could barely understand then he said "I really wish
that I could take all of the credit for how your world
has turned out believe me when I say that I think it
is great that is without any doubt, but you see the
killing of others all in the name of religion that was
never me all of those killings were manmade just
take a good look and see and all that hate and violence
just because of the color of a man's skin", as he looked
up "that is all man yet once again because of man's
fears that he feels and his fears never will end." Then
I could see that Devil really was hurting when he
started to say as he cleared his throat "Now addiction,
I really do think that it is great because you are
right there is no one anywhere that is safe" then he
looked away as he said "and that even includes
myself from the infection, it spreads so fast infecting
every home across all of the seas in every land,
I mean just take a quick look down in Hell, it has
been full for quite a long while" he then looked down
with a deep sadness across his face and frowned
before he said "I really wish that idea was all mine
but no I am sorry but the addiction was created all
by man, so my job has been very easy for many
years now, since man has learned his own evil
ways now I never need to work long hours
any more so I only work two days." I looked at
the Devil with a crazy look in my eyes I noticed
he was looking so damn old and very tired and
he also looked quite a lot smaller than his normal
size, and just as he turned around to walked
away I started realizing that what he had to say
was right and I know he had not lied this time
when he said "that man is now the root of all his
own evil, causing all of our own sins and always
has from the very beginning and will until the very
end." From all of the wars and violence that we
now see like school shootings, mass killings this
world is going crazy everywhere we look, all you
have to do Is turn on the news on your radio or
television or walk outside to see the reasons from
all of the ignorance which produces hate and even
the greed that rules over everything, that breed the
situations of child laborers, in all the third world
countries who are only making pennies a day or
even nothing so we can have cheaper things, and
now we have whole families living out on the streets
with the elderly and children going hungry they
have nothing to eat or to even drink, while wages
are going down the cost of living going up, there are
no jobs while inflation is causing the housing market
to go up. I think that It is time we all need to open
up our eyes and take a damn good look around
and maybe then we can all begin to realize that if
we as a people together and not as a race, gender,
or religion do not stop what we are all doing then
come together and start trying to fix our broken
world that is crumbling down around us, and start
caring about others and not just ourselves for a change
we will all be in trouble, so we need to begin to learn
peace, love and understanding and change our evil
ways soon or we will be gone and I am not talking a
few decades but years, months, or maybe even just
days.

Poet Richard M Knittle Jr.
A #Poets Journey
Texas Poet Laureate Nominee 2016-2020