This shiny colourful globe that rotates in space;
Who rules the roost.
Is it the knowing and the loving,
Or the greedy and the murderous?
The Devil’s holding a banquet
And he has got a lot of friends
There’s always the same guest list
No matter what century, the uniform’s still exist
Denizen’s of wealth, policy and subordination
Met at a table under a red moon
Ready to boast of their recent triumphs
Victuals laid out lavishly, more than enough
Its become somewhat of a tradition
This moonlight escapade
Salivating over tales of their bloody exploits
That keep their power in reign
The main course is lamb and cocaine
Cutlets get sliced and chewed
Lines get sorted and snorted
As the clink of cutlery secedes
The Devil clap’s two pale hands
To which he stands, arms spread to his lads
“Now then you fickle lot, are you have beens or have nots
Who will stand and give us talk of their most evil lot”
A Priest, in ceremonial garb rises with a meaty smile
He stares about the room, his cross glinting in the gloom
He clears his throat of wine, it is time
To hear tales of wickedness and deceit
“I have ensnared the weak and fearful, poisoned to get to this position,
Corrupted an innocent idea for my own malicious tuition
Through years of scheming and wrongful achieving
My brethren have dined out on humanity’s believing”
In deities that never were, these stories did never exist
Only this Devil, sitting right here before us, and the lies he did twist
Have we managed to perpetuate this, our craving for power
To lock ourselves up, with gold and wickedness, in our Ivory tower”
These words were greeted by respectful applause and happy eyes
Of those dining with the Devil, and all their deceit and lies.
Next stood a man with a pencil mustache and black suit, it was his time,
To tell the haughty crowd, of his most delectable crime.
“I have schemed and loaned to the poorest of the poor,
When they cannot pay back I have kicked them out of their own door,
Seized that which wasn’t mine, delivered misery to a gluttonous score
Dined with my treasure, kept adding to my hoard, and used many a young whore.”
“When my gold was enough I paid off the judges and kept politicians in my pocket,
Told lies for profit and used society’s conjunctures to strangle the single market,
Designed fiscal policy to ensnare the peasants into servitude, evil at its most darkest!
All the while I remained the coyest”
So the last man stood with a bowler hat and a smoking cigar,
While the devil looked on, ready for more.
He was the leader of a country, voted for by its people,
War mongered and silenced the peaceful.
“Firstly, I would like to say to the designers of dread,
Thank you for your clever heads,
Taking us down paths that only we can tread.
I followed your lead and became a disease.”
“I masqueraded as hope, the savior of lives,
But all I did was take payment, authority and deprive
While my friends here, pulled the strings, and taught me how to smile
As the people succumbed to the charm, without question of my beguile”
And so the Devil rose, as tears rolled down his hollow cheeks,
He applauded and exclaimed at the stories so bleak,
“I am happy my lads, that you have kept up this charade,
It’s why I invited you to this most profane parade
To history you will not fade,
Your kin will play the same game, wickedness they will braid.”
“I bid you goodbye, for this is the one and only occasion,
Once a generation this here banquet will be laid.
Raise the next one as the same, otherwise your debt won’t be paid,
And to my home, you will be slain.”
The Devil held a banquet,
Solely the powerful came,
Until next time,
Where the wicked come to dine.
© Jack Nugent
