Dance with the Devil

She had met this handsome stranger

So she told me, at some dance,

And I knew then she’d be leaving me,

I didn’t stand a chance,

She had not seemed so excited since

I’d given her a ring,

But I saw she wasn’t wearing it,

It didn’t mean a thing!

 

So I asked her where this dance had been,

She didn’t seem to know,

She’d drifted in there like some dream

Where lovers always go,

I asked her who was there, she said

They’d glided round in grace,

And but for him, her eyes were dim,

She’d not recalled one face.

 

She hesitating, placed the ring

Back in my open hand,

‘I don’t have any choice,’ she said,

‘I knew you’d understand!’

I didn’t, but I bit my tongue,

No point to cause a scene,

I hoped that she’d get over it,

But something was unclean.

 

I sat and moped at home awhile,

She’d cut me to the quick,

I’d planned my life around her,

Marriage, children, all of it,

But then I felt resentment rise

And choke me to the core,

I’d need to see him, Damn-his-eyes,

See what I’d lost her for.

 

So I began to roam the streets

And watch her, though unseen,

To hide in handy bushes, just

To find out where she’d been,

Then one dark night she ventured out

And walked, as in a trance,

I followed at a distance as

She went to join the dance.

 

The gates were flung wide open to

A long, curved gravel drive,

A house with gothic columns, where

The gargoyles looked alive,

I didn’t see another soul

As Anne had ventured in,

But ballroom music filled the air

With subtle hints of sin.

 

I sidled to the ballroom and

I hid, as best I could,

While phantom figures whirled about,

Transparent through each hood,

The only solid forms I saw

Were first, my trancelike Anne,

And something evil on the floor

That could have been a man.

 

That could have been a man, I said

Despite his long black cloak,

The horns that grew from out his head

That looked just like a goat,

The tail that flicked behind it with

A barb of polished steel,

It could have been a man, I said,

But no, that sight was real!

 

Behind Anne was a marble slab

With bloodstains, from before,

A pale and polished altar that

Was raised up from the floor,

He took Anne in his arms, began

To sway and dance her round,

‘You’re dancing with the Devil, Anne,’

I screamed, and held my ground.

 

He roared, and turned his evil face

To glare where I was stood,

My heart stood still inside me, like

My heart was made of wood,

Then Anne began to shriek, her eyes

Now seeing what I saw,

Pulled back, and disentangled from

Each evil crablike claw.

 

I don’t know how we got outside,

I only know we fled,

With terror stricken eyes and hearts

We thought that we were dead.

That house went up, a puff of smoke

Amid a demon roar,

Now Anne won’t dance, no handsome stranger

Tempts her anymore!

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[A Soap Mess Stories]

This somehow reminded me of Charlie Daniels' "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" when I read the title. Another exciting tale.

[TL Boehm]

I so enjoy your consistent ability to hide the ending - I hardly ever see it coming. This one was no exception. A wonderful tale - would make a great short film.

[Avinash]

Often to pursue adventure, women are prone to leave the heaven for devil's charm. It was good that she realized before it was too late, thanks to our sensible hero of the story.

[Marie]

Thank Heavens she was gotten away from there. She'd likely have been sacrificed on that marble alter.

[R Smith]

Your stories are always great reading David and as poems they flow with such grace and wit, a pleasure always :)

[MomzillaNC]

What a gripping tale… entire movies have been made with less plot!

[Jane Winters Rogers]

I so enjoy reading your suspenseful poems, I always wonder how you will end them, I never cheat and read the end first, I also love the rhythm ? Meter? Flow anyway you understand what I am saying I like all of your writings thank you for sharing