The All-mighty Devil

I was a kid, when I first heard about him,
Wanting to buy every drop of chocolate
And every bar of ice cream ever made
Probably I was too young
To have known him. But then,
I didn’t know a lot of people then!

Wide-eyed I watched an ice cream seller,
Stop his cart and offer a huge bar of vanilla,
To the man in the dark suit,
After he left though, the seller turned to me,
And claimed that the man was so powerful,
Coz he had exchanged his soul with the devil.

I was intrigued, who was this devil guy?
And if he could make a man so powerful
To get free ice cream any time he wanted,
How much power would HE have?
I really wanted to meet this guy,
But he didn’t live in my lane.

The next time I heard about him was in my teens,
My eyes trailed behind the latest rage on the silver screen
Her ample bosom, no wonder aroused my teenage fantasies,
But then, the bald priest interrupted the erotic quest,
And told me that the woman’s beauty arose
From the pact she had made with the devil.

Now, I really wanted to meet this guy,
And I roamed around the country looking for him,
On my travels, I saw stretches of wheat fields,
A farmer working on one of them, lamented,
That all the fields belonged to one man,
Who the devil had blessed with immeasurable riches.

Tired as I was, with desire and desperation growing,
The more I heard of his power and the more elusive he was.
And that was when I met him, tall, jolly and simple he was.
I was awestruck at how cordial he was to me.
I was no match for his powers, and the boons he gave
Yet he was the symbol of hospitality and kindness.

He asked me what I wanted to know,
I came out of my reverie and inquired,
Did he make people powerful, beautiful and rich?
He shook his head in the negative,
There was a hint of smile on his lips,
A gentle mischief at play.

He said that despite his wish, he did not have those powers,
People who did have those qualities,
Did so by their own merit. I was puzzled.
I told him what I had heard about him,
His mischievous smile widened from ear to ear
While he informed me that I had been talking to his PR agents.