The Devil's Hat

(i)

 

The devil tipped his hat

and the world did nothing.

He switched off all the lights

and the world said nothing.

 

He whistled to his demons

who stoked the sound of thunder,

blessed the silent dusklight

as the curtains were drawn.

 

The devil was pleased -

he smiled at the trees.

The sky turned inside out,

the birds all looked away.

 

He poked the gathering clouds

above his charnel house

reigned fire on the innocent

as the world sat idly by.

 

‘All is well and dandy!’ he said

and smiled for the cameras.

He brushed his silver hair

and scrambled people’s minds.

 

On a throne of molten rock

he took a thankful nap

as the streets were washed of blood

and the world said nothing.

 

 

(ii)

 

Christmas came - peace

and joy to all men -

but not to the women and children

slaughtered in the devil’s name.

 

The old, the infirm,

the lost, the ill at ease -

no one was safe from

his lustful revenge.

 

He piled the dead high

beneath the tinsel and pine

nobody saw him do it -

the world looked the other way

 

singing songs of holy joy

for the birth of His only son

whose message of forgiveness

the devil tore to shreds.

 

In a church he took aim

and killed two sheltering souls.

‘Merry Christmas!’ he said

and packed away his gun.

 

The devil likes to smile

for the devil is a cad,

twirling his Christmas hat

as sleigh bells ring their tune.

 

He brushed himself down

smiled his cheeky smile.

‘What a suave fellow I am!’

he said, a red glint in his eye.

 

And the lime pits were dug

and the women offered prayers

and the children looked on

with glazed, soulless eyes.

 

The devil packed his case

and stroked his hounds of hell.

‘Here’s to the next time!’ he said.

I’ll soon be back for more.’

 

 

(iii)

 

Was it then the world began to wake

from its numbed Christmas slumber ?

Parched, spent and lazy

after singing all its hymns

 

it woke with bleary eyes

but knew things had changed:

wrong was right, war was peace

the lawns had been clipped to dust.

 

It was only when the needles

were swept from beneath the tree

that the world saw the crimes

the devil had carried out.

 

But he was long, long gone

riding on the wind

to a life of sweet excess

in a far away realm

 

where he sat before his fire

shifting in his skin

until it peeled and fell away

in a pool of blistered tears.