Dances with demons

At some point

it became clear

the only thing harder

than facing your demons

is

not facing them.

So, I sat

and stared at my demons.

One of them blinked.

“Demons, come

feast on my flesh,” I said.

And they did.

I pinched the cheek of one of my demons

and said, “You look so cute. Let me hug you.”

The demon looked mortified

and ran.

Once, fleeing from my demons

I turned around and smiled.

One of them froze.

I breathed fire at the dragon.

Shocked, it said, “You are supposed to be good.”

“No, I am not,” I said, as my nostrils flared

and breathed fire again.

The dragon shrunk.

“Let me help you,”

said one of them, pretending to be my friend.

“Nice try,” I said, and it slunk away.

“We need to do something about this,” said one of them.

“Who is this we you talk about?” I inquired

and it vanished without a trace.

One had me on the ropes

again and again

until I punched it

below the belt.

Doubled over in pain, it said,

“I win.”

I looked puzzled and then it said

“I made you lose your integrity.”

“You are right,” I said,

“You win.”

“And now,” it said with a smile

“You win.”

I was about to cut one down

when it said,

“If you kill me,

you kill a part of yourself.”

I stopped

and bowed

and said,

“You are not my demon.

You are my teacher.”

The demon smiled and said,

“And now

You have

killed me.”

“This?”

I asked one of them.

“This?”

“This is what you have for me?

After all I have gone through?

For God’s sake!

I have a Ph. D in pain!”

The demon looked sheepish and said,

“I will do better next time.”

“You do that.

I will be waiting for you,” I said

with needless bluster.

Another lured me

back into the ring.

I was no match for it

as it pummeled me over and over

while other demons cheered it on.

As I fell to the ground,

I lifted my bloodied face

and said,

“The one you are killing

is not

the one I am trying to save.”

The demon looked stunned

and a hushed silence swept over the demon audience

and all the rest

came out of hiding

and peered at me with awe.

I lifted my head again and said

“The one you are killing

is not

the one I am trying to save.”

The demons bowed.

“Respect at last,” I thought

until one of them smiled and said,

“But you will soon

forget that.”

“Yes, I will,” I admitted

and added

“And then the dance will continue.”

“Yes, the dance will continue,” they said happily.

“But I will remember,”

I said with a finality,

“That it is just a dance.”

~ Ash

P.S. Ash thinks he wrote this poem but in actuality, we demons did. We have him so fooled!