by Cheryl, Gulf Coast Poet

Pact with the Prince of Darkness:

A Halloween Sonnet Fantasy

Photo by Gursimrat Ganda from Unsplash

Pact with the Prince of Darkness:

A Halloween Sonnet Fantasy

Forlorn, undead on dying planet earth,

humanity extinct, I curse my birth.

Alas! I sold my soul and cannot die!

For eons, I have roamed the earth and sky

by noxious seas that drowned the firmament,

beneath vile haze that cloaked earth like a tent,

all now restored to lucid sea and sky.

Though void of life, the new-formed land is dry.

Millennia have wiped all stains away.

How slowly life evolves until the day

when humans walk this precious world again!

I dread the evil deeds I must do then,

to serve the Fiend who bought my worthless life.

O Gods, please pardon me and let me die!

Copyright © 2021 by Cheryl Batavia

Satan, Beelzebub, the Fiend, the Devil, Lucifer, the Prince of Darkness…There are numerous names for the personification of evil. Many classic myths and stories portray a character who promises to serve the Devil in exchange for granting them a favor. In this case, the character sells his soul to live on after all other human beings become extinct. The poem also tells a tale of the destruction and regeneration of the earth.

At approximately age five, I remember marching in a Halloween parade wearing a Devil costume, red with horns and a tail, and carrying a pitchfork! My siblings subsequently grew into the costume.

Photo by Mikail Nilov from Unsplash.

29 Comments

    1. Thank you for reading and commenting, Joanna. Inspired by Ingrid’s Halloween Sonnet Festival, I learned to write a sonnet. I had previously given up, but this time I wrote four Halloween sonnets. This is the next to the last in the environmental series of Halloween Sonnets. I hope all is well with you! ❤

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    1. That’s Interesting, Kate. I never heard of the movie, but selling your soul to the devil is a classic theme. I read “The Devil and Daniel Webster” by American writer Stephen Vincent Benet in high school. If you think of the name of the movie, I’d like to see if I can find it on YouTube. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. ❤

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    3. Thank you, Kate, for sending information about this miniseries. I stayed up and watched it in its entirety. It was a bit violent and gory, but it reminded me of a movie I saw in the eighties about survivors of a nuclear holocaust. I also looked up The Devil and Daniel Webster. The book was published in 1936 and made into a movie in 1941. There have been a few remakes; the last one I found was made in 2003. There is also a free audiobook on YouTube.

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    1. Thank you for reading and sharing your thoughts, JoAnna! ❤ Yes, the cockroaches and rats would likely be the last to die! Your thoughtful response is very much appreciated. ❤

      Though open to many interpretations, my primary purpose in writing these poems is to encourage people to pay attention to environmental issues. We should not "sell our souls" at the expense of future generations.

      Take care!

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      1. Your primary purpose is of the greatest importance. The poem is much more powerful from that perspective. Thank you for clarifying. I agree and admire your perseverance and your writing. ❤

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