As the Devil's Own
by Michael Doyle

One man views evil with a quiet bemusement.
Another sees it as a form of amusement.
Neither looks beyond pleasure for purpose.
It is not for them to want to be of service.

Vampires feed to live and not become extinct.
Hunting is a matter of exercising pure instinct.
Regardless of the turn of every season,
It is bloodlust that is sought and not reason.

It is as if I am the Devil's own,
And with you as my echo, I'm never alone.
There is within me an overpowering beast 
That, when unleashed, will surely feast.

Taken in sum and under even  loose observation,
Mankind's depravity is pushed by raw ambition.
It is almost unimaginable, the amount of depravity
That man manifests with the greatest capacity.

All it takes to  hang within this morbid noose,
Is the whisper that God isn't watching and we are loose.
Looking to feed only the unworthy, diabolical criminal
Makes risking starvation almost too elemental.

It is as if I am the Devil's own,
And with you as my echo, I'm never alone.
There is within me an overpowering beast 
That, when unleashed, will surely feast.

The year was a blur when Jelly Roll wrote the blues,
While the New Orleans vampires heard it all its hues.
This was the way that it was and had always been
When vampires taunted their favorite human beings.

Time passes, changing memories like a gothic romance
Reversed courses feel well-rehearsed, like a second chance
That has been ghosted until the truth once concealed
Becomes the substance laid bare when it is again revealed.

It is as if I am the Devil's own,
And with you as my echo, I'm never alone.
There is within me an overpowering beast 
That, when unleashed, will surely feast.

A vampire's humanity is the last bridge for him to burn.
Memories are the odyssey of a journey from which we learn.
The worst manners come from a hunger that is rarefied
And the self-made arguments that are seldom satisfied.

It is up to each of us to set our defining line.
As I look at you with a lust to finally make you mine.
We play at life as if overhanging a Damoclean sword 
Tell me when you have heard the measure of our secret chord.

It is as if I am the Devil's own,
And with you as my echo, I'm never alone.
There is within me an overpowering beast 
That, when unleashed, will surely feast.

(c) October 13, 2025   Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved