The Watchman

Back in the day, I was stricken with insomnia, for the first time. This lousy piece was spawned. I say lousy because I've learned so much since then; my views are quite changed. Nonetheless, it is the favorite amongst my family and childhood friends. I have always considered it a work in progress, and still wish to someday both rewrite and finish it.

P.S. Okay!, I already altered it a bit. I'm writing it, might as well rewrite it!

The Watchman

I have written these words for all who call Hell home --
For all the poor bastards who live where demons roam.
Some words for all those dreadful fellows
Who live in an evil nation
Flooded with worries and woes,
In the land of Desperation...

'Twas a bright and dreary light,
Cast down by a moon of crimson hue
Yet through the evil of the night
He sent the Watchman through

The Watchman's training soon began
To sharpen his crafty skill
Alas, too, he had to overcome the troubles of man
Which ripped and eroded his will

As the Watchman struggled to learn
Satan cunningly played his game
And oh, how that devil did yearn
To scratch out the Watchman's name

The beasts teased and taunted him, all throughout the night
The demons came and haunted him, filling him with fright
And though they poked and prodded him, he wouldn't dare to fight
This was his one and only hope: he had to get it right


Satan, like a cancer, tried to get under the Watchman's skin
He called upon the Watchman's family, and the Watchman's friends

He began to weaken the Watchman by corrupting him from within
He attacked the Watchman's very fibers, fraying them at the ends

Although he desperately needed to repent
For the many sins in his short existence
The forces of evil were hell bent:
They would annihilate all resistance

Seeing that the time was near
He took a last look into the mirror
He had to right all that was wrong
Fearing he'd been in the darkness for far too long

All that time, he should have grown
For we must reap what we have sown
Too soon, the demons burst from the ground
With Satan's last lunge to steal the crown

The frightened people ran to hide
Abandoning their daily roles
For they knew deep down inside
Who they'd given stock of their souls

With precious hope, and knowledge at hand
The Watchman stepped forward to take his stand
The Book as his sword, his faith as his shield
No matter the odds, he would never again yield

And with his few weapons,
He took on the damned
Fighting ghouls, beasts, and demons
As well as the burdens of Man

So he renewed the age old fight
Opposing evil in favor of Good
He fought with courage and all his might
He finally did the best he could

After the long and endless night
The Watchman had all but lost
Near the end of our gruesome fight
None could count the souls it had cost

And though he knew he should not win
He chose to carry on
Struggling to breath; wounded by sin
He managed to live until dawn

The truth was at last clarified
As he staggered into the dawn
He accepted then, as he died
He was no knight -- at best, a pawn

But though the realization burned as a phosphorous flame
He knew that a pawn could still win the game
He finally grasped the key to his salvation
With his own heart he must expose Christ's love to Satan

He uttered not a word as the ground opened and he fell
Into the dark abysmal pit; the hungry maw of Hell
The Devil anxiously awaited, he chuckled and he grinned
As the Watchman's memories burned away, every enemy, every friend

And though he saw his sins setting fire to his grave
The Watchman still held hope, felt a reason to be brave
As he closed in on the home of the dreaded enemy
He held on ever tighter to the mighty key

What the Watchman had planned, Satan never would have guessed
How could the devil, in all his vainness, see
What was tethered in the Watchman's breast
So small, but roaring with mighty power, he held the key

------

The roads were paved with infants' skulls
The woefulness rushed in like a flood
Screaming pitifully, infinite souls
The demons drinking gleefully upon their blood

Satan quited the howling creatures
Then stared upon the figure of soul and sand
So tenuous and frail, with such harsh features
One more tenant in this God-forsaken land!

Satan smiled and pulled out his list
Glowering at the man before him
The Watchman clutching triumph in his fist
Yet wearing a face eternally grim

The devil knew, as he went on down his list
The Watchman was finally his prize
Never sensing there was something he had missed
As he read off his elaborate offers and lies

When he finished, The Watchman stood up straight
And refused Satan and his schemes
His cry heard clear to Hell's gate
He had bigger and better dreams

When the Watchman dared to call him The Liar
Satan deafened him with his ghastly choir
Maniacally weaving into their song
Lyrics of all the Watchman had done wrong

Though drowning in pain and fear
The Watchman lay perfectly calm
Struggling to keep his mind clear
His fist unclenched, the key laid on his palm

Satan howled with frightened eyes
He saw a key which was the perfect size
And as key is to lock, love is to hate
The Watchman quickly rushed out of Hell's gate

------

As the Christ collected the souls from Hell
Knowing he was done, the Watchman finally fell
He knew he'd finished his watch, he'd seen us through 'til Dawn
He hoped that 'though he lost most battles, his war was finally won.