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