PRINCE OF DARKNESS

The Prince’s Introduction

I

We, the Prince of Darkness,

Born in, and harnessed by, the House of Hate

Nourished by the auspices of greed & envy

And a need for suffering that is hard to sate

Pray, come, become my subject

Join me in my princely glory

Join me behind my handsome pained-glass windows . . .

Mm, I can see you’re taken by my story

And like every good story, it has a beginning

Almost happy – unless you know how it ends

Oh, and despite that my tale has many foes

I bet you they don’t outnumber its ardent friends

I must apologize if I tend to repeat myself

While I’ll do my best to prevent you from falling asleep

Whichever the case – the one thing I’m certain of

My story is guaranteed to make you weep

 

II

I was born as a toadstool

When the world began

Then along came my favorite fool

Who kissed me and ran

Borne by wild winds my spores bred

Flying far and wide

And the Darkness my spores spread

Is the Darkness where I reside

 

III

There is this agreement that I’d like to seal

I turn hearts made of gold into minds made of steel

and should you agree, then your soul can indeed,

be the sole, the one handshake, that I’ll ever need

 

IV

But first I should give you some background, I see

Your choice after all is important to me

This bargain of mine is much hotter than hell

Still, judge for yourself from what I will tell

 

The Prince’s curriculum vitae

 

V

There was a certain point in time

When things were destined and assigned

To balance what was good and well

I poised a force I baptized hell  

 

VI

The feeding on a young wolf’s heart

Gave me its strength and humble start

It was the reason, I believe

The dark realm became my fief

 

VII

But things were slow until one dawn

Six thousand falls ago, I spawned

my spores into the wind, which then

were planted in the hearts of men

 

VIII

The young wolf’s heart that I once ate

Now showed all men to calculate

To best serve their own interest

While cultivating greed and hate

 

IX

From roaming freely in the woods

Now men built city neighborhoods

Protected by their city walls

Their hearts felt war on neighbors call

 

X

The Dark ages began, it’s the time I prefer

The crusaders and zealots – true entrepreneurs

And to stir up the brew for those tottering fools

I launched Inquisition to see what occurred

 

(… continued …)