Some devils
Can appear in shells
Which resemble
Those familiar faces

Whose presence
Deceptively comforts
To engage our sins
Left exposed –

Spiritually weak
As they say,

Believing those hands
We have shuffled,

Spread across minds
Before sleeping
And dreaming of cards
Plotting death.

Yet still,
Fate always proves hard
While praying each day
How things mustn’t,

Only vague enough
For excuses
But denying real faith
All along –

Needing answers
Encouraging fear,

Letting doubtfulness
Dictate tomorrow,

Filling life’s gaps
Through clairvoyance
Or perhaps
Another nightmare instead

Where uncertainty
Becomes begging beasts
Soon smiling back
Sharing knowledge
Demanded by hearts
Gravely wounded
Gaining trust
No religion can earn.

I’m aware
How eagerness fools
These desperate minds
Always cheated,

Being guilty myself
Seeking heaven
Between images
Featured on decks –

Pretty pictures
Offering tales
Despondent souls
Often wonder
If their lies unveiled
Contain solace
Or prove judgement’s
Inaccurate wrath.

As a kid
One priest said it best –

“Testing demons
Will offer us answers
God never wants
Despite wishing
That advice from beyond
Weren’t true.”

• J. Pigno