The Dark One's Tear
By: Jeff R. Young

A sermonette beneath the devil's glance
A strung up puppet above the abyss
Lamenting a world, I would never miss
The dark one calls and speaks my name
He tickles my feet with an endless flame
Such hate will blister through dawn and dusk
Till all that's left is a withered husk
And in the end, with his rage consumed
My emptiness seeps like an open wound
I'm but a marionette within a mortals skin
I shed away the coil to begin again
Such alluring songs from his fiddle and fife
They were the tempting fruit from the tree of life
He found such ecstasy in the breaking of me
To force me down upon one knee
He has played me like a harp from hell
As harbingers of fate, the church bells knell
Such deadly sins to which I'm enslaved
Diminish the hope that I may be saved
My human side is what makes me strong
Gives poetic meaning to my unfinished song
I was slow to traction, but I found control
I found a soul that is lost is still a soul
Before this story of mine finds its end
I have one last message left to send
I will face the dark before I'm claimed its prize
And in these last four lines, I'll dispel its lies
My shield of faith is my protector
To hold my humanity in this tug of war
As the end of my mortal life draws nigh
I pledge my soul to the heavens so the devil may cry
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