The Devil called on me today In his usual uninhibited way He took a bucket of cyclonic rain And crashed it against my window pane He pelted my roof for over an hour With raindrops so big and so full of power At one time I thought the roof would leak And I finally gave up trying to sleep I wondered what had upset him so And what he wanted me to know At first I could not understand As he raged and loudly beat his hands He made the thunder shake my walls The Devil’s annoyed, and he’s got *****
So I waited for him to speak To tell me what caused his fit of pique I sat in my room quiet and still Then went to the window and leaned on the sill I watched as he viciously vented his spleen Using thunder, and lightning to light up the scene His stage was set and all was in place He wants to meet me face to face That’s okay by me I have nothing to fear I went to the bedroom and put on my gear Shorts and a T-shirt without any shoes I was dressed in black, no colourful hues As I stepped through the door and onto the street The Devil’s tears were washing my feet
I wondered where he’d set centre stage And started to walk in the midst of his rage It wasn’t long before I was soaked The cigarettes in my pocket could not now be smoked I took the path that led through the trees Then down to the pool I walked with ease Out through the wall and into the night And all of a sudden, the place was just right There’s a cemetery here from long ago This is the place he wants me to go He appeared in my brain dressed all in red The horns shone slickly at the side of his head He gave no greeting, had a face full of hate A Devil’s showdown is part of my fate
He told me ‘Take a look around See all these stones in the ground There’s no one left here for you to see I’ve got them all, they’re now with me’ I took a look through the pelting rain At an epitaph below a forgotten name A long time ago it was carved with care But the Devil has dragged it into his lair Another lost soul for him to claim He looks on us all as being the same I looked at him then, straight in his eye And asked him what had made him cry What caused this overpowering rage That lead us to this center stage?
He replied ‘I was there two nights ago But I couldn’t get past the Angel’s glow It flowed around her and was far too deep She was one I could not keep I even gave Gabriel a hefty shove As I tried to break through all that love I never even touched her hand Could not get by that heavenly band I tried in every way I could But this one woman was far too good’
I smiled then at the reality That this meeting was not about him and me Standing in that cemetery no shoes on my feet I realised the Devil is easy to beat So I said to him ‘You can rant and rave We’re safe from you inside our graves We only need to do what’s right Show love and compassion, be a guiding light To those around us that we love and adore Then, in your face Mr. Devil, we can slam the door’
The storm raged on as I turned away I’ll live to fight the Devil another day I made my way back still soaked to the skin My feet were all wrinkled they looked pretty grim Tossed off my clothes, got under the shower Scrubbed myself for half an hour Returned some heat to my body’s core And laughed at the reasons why the Devil got sore Feeling exhausted I went to bed On the cool of the pillow I laid my head My thoughts flew to home and you people there Your anguish and grief and deep despair I cannot tell you what I’ve seen and heard You’d probably think it’s too absurd I’ve laid the demons and quelled the beast I can tell you that Martha will rest in peace. By the way, before I went to sleep I asked the Lord your souls to keep