My Own Devil Poem by Kishore Asthana

Many an angel came calling
When ‘twas the Devil I went to meet
They tempted me with bribes of honey
And other things hard to beat

I said no, I wanted to see
The Devil for myself and I knew
God will agree, for after all
He had made the devils, too

They said he is evil, he is bad
He will make me like him, impure
I asked if they’d met him themselves
And they said, “we have, for sure”

“Then you must know”, said I,
“That my devil’s not the same as yours
Each one has a different devil
Behind our names on these doors”

“And unless we meet our very own devil
We will not know who we are
And that is why, my guardian angels
You must let me go that far”

They did so and I went on
To open the door with my name
There I found wealth and pomp
Envy, fear, shame and fame

I kept looking half my life
For the expected Devil, all my own
Till Wisdom came one day and said
He is only what you have sown