Friday Poetry Corner
The Devil
Men don't believe in the Devil now, as their fathers used to do;
They've forced the door of the broadest creed to let his majesty through.
There isn't a print of his cloven foot or fiery dart from his brow
To be found on earth or air today, for the world has voted it so.
Who dogs the steps of the toiling saint and digs the pits for his feet?
Who sows the tares in the fields of time whenever God sows the wheat?
The Devil is voted not to be, and of course, the thing is true;
But who is doing the kind of work that the Devil alone can do?
We are told that he doesn't go about as a roaring lion now;
But whom shall we hold responsible for the everlasting row
To be heard in home, in church and state, to the earth's remotest bound,
If the Devil by unanimous vote is nowhere to be found?
Won't someone step to the front forthwith and make their bow and show
How the frauds and crimes of a single day spring up? We want to know!
The Devil was fairly voted out, and of course, The Devil's gone;
But simple people would like to know who carries the business on.
Anon
Men don't believe in the Devil now, as their fathers used to do;
They've forced the door of the broadest creed to let his majesty through.
There isn't a print of his cloven foot or fiery dart from his brow
To be found on earth or air today, for the world has voted it so.
Who dogs the steps of the toiling saint and digs the pits for his feet?
Who sows the tares in the fields of time whenever God sows the wheat?
The Devil is voted not to be, and of course, the thing is true;
But who is doing the kind of work that the Devil alone can do?
We are told that he doesn't go about as a roaring lion now;
But whom shall we hold responsible for the everlasting row
To be heard in home, in church and state, to the earth's remotest bound,
If the Devil by unanimous vote is nowhere to be found?
Won't someone step to the front forthwith and make their bow and show
How the frauds and crimes of a single day spring up? We want to know!
The Devil was fairly voted out, and of course, The Devil's gone;
But simple people would like to know who carries the business on.
Anon
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