When I Meet the Devil

When I meet the Devil
I’ll kill him.

Not for his endless treachery, richly expressed
In perfectly worded, erudite, platinum-bright aphorisms.

Not for the endless lies that spiral from his quick lips
Like fine red ethereal thread, spooling at our feet
Like bloodshot spider-web.

Not for the false
Compliments that slide off his baroque tongue
Like newly minted coins of fool’s gold.

When I meet the devil,
I’ll kill him
Because God made him.

(c) Eric Robert Nolan 2013

First published by Dead Snakes, May 2013:

http://deadsnakes.blogspot.com/2013/05/eric-robert-nolan-two-poems.html

Photo credit: “Der Heilige Michael,” Luca Giordano, 1663 (via Wikimedia Commons)