"If Given the Chance"
In my dreams I see the alter
stained with sin and Christian blood
My vision blurs, my heartbeat falters
'After me comes the flood.'
I hear their screams, I see them run
A voice speaks in tongues of Olde
"You could have the world, little one,
in exchange for your soul."
Their bodies bent like tinker toys
smashed in bloody melee
pawns for the game that would become this boy's
favourite new form of play.
Thus began my new life's sport,
for fun it is and nothing beside.
I've not the arrogance, and my temper too short,
to call it Justice- it's only Pride.
When I tick off their lives on all ten of my digits
(I've now started using my toes)
I sip at my tea and munch on my biscuits
such indifference God only knows.
But when the sun is off to bed,
and the moon to lend its light,
ghostly pictures dance in my head
and haunt my dreams every night.
Is it their crying (or is it my own?)
that echoes inside of my brain?
I admit, it hurts that I once had a home
that I can never return to again.
But in the wake of all this madness,
and a heart that grows only colder,
there is company in my sadness
in a gloved hand upon my shoulder.
It may not be the tender touch
of family or a watchful friend,
but this comfort is more than enough
to know someone will be there 'til the end.
"I am here, my Lord," says he,
"tell me, what nightmare is this?"
I believe the phrase is Misery loves company,
Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris.
And forth we march through the Gates of Hell
against man and beast we're pitted
for as far as either of us can tell
there is no rest for the Wicked.
So when I am broken from another attack
while infernal flames crackle below
I think if given the chance to take it all back
the answer will forever be, "No."