Talking With the Devil

The devil says,

Here’s some nice good for you —

Where do you want me to put

the bad stuff?

You could put in on those other people,

call them enemies,

or put it in events and call it fate,

I can hide it deep inside you

where you’ll mostly never see it,

you can take it with you everywhere you go

Or I can let you pull it out and wear it like  a badge,

proud that you’re not hiding anything

Then tell the devil:

No, I’m not signing.

My good is mine already

and it doesn’t need your seal,

It doesn’t need the bad you offer

to contain it or define it,

doesn’t need to be legitimized by you

You tell the devil no —

There is no place

in the grand sphere of all my being

for your lies.

©Wendy Mulhern

February 23, 2015