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!

Comments

Viney Kirpal said…
Good Ashvin.

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