'Sonnet VI: The Begging of the Beast'

With heavy heart I face my greatest foe
to seek from him the grace that he has sworn.
With bended knee and pointed chin down low
I trust I will be greeted with much scorn.
I only ever wished the best: for all
to be enlightened -- was I not the one
so called The Bear'r of Light? Thus did I fall
and was relieved of titles such as "son." 

But as I crouch before Thee, mighty Father,
I ask but one small favour for all time:
to let my tortured neighbour, friend and brother
roam free for just one day. No sin, no crime.
I pray, with heart condemned and judged amiss,
let loose my demons from the deep abyss.



08/04/16

Poet's Notes

I've always found The Devil to be an interesting character (no surprise I'm in love with Shakespeare's Iago) with the huge amount of influence he has over our lives. His motivations, however, can be considered to some extent pro-human, and thus I feel that he is one of the more relatable characters in The Bible (God is perfect, the men are very 2D, either being all bad, all good, or bad turned good: Saul turned Paul) despite being the pure embodiment of evil. Of course, the attitude of being pro-human, or more accurately pro-self, is one of the fundamentals of Satanism as I understand it, and I feel that in one way or another, most of us can relate to that. 

That's why I, although forgetting what ultimately sparked it, was inspired by something to create a sympathetic and more redeemable character for The Devil. I intended it to be slightly misleading at first, with the main conceit being "let loose my demons from the deep abyss," suggesting perhaps a diabolical tone in a ritualistic manner to release chaos upon the world. As you can see, that is not the case, as Lucifer here is acknowledging that the poor souls in Hell had suffered, and, out of pity and compassion for those he intended to enlighten, requests for them to be allowed to roam the Earth for a day, similarly to the legends and lore behind festivals such as All Hallow's Eve and the Hungry Ghost Month.

Update

As you may have realised, this poem took the place of what was supposed to be a poem analysis. I put this out here instead because I felt this blog was established enough for me to be more lenient with posting and I wouldn't forget all about it. If I ever do find myself forgetting about it, you can expect me to resume my weekly posting schedules, but until then, it'll be just like my other blog: completely free! :)