Hymn of the Damned

In acrid pits they claw and churn,

Demons who for malice yearn,

Drinking in mankind's bitter pain

To fuel their harsh and hostile reign.

With envy's knives they slyly sever

Tender bonds no ruth or fever,

Turn kith to foe, kin to stranger,

With slander's whispers full of danger.

Jealousy they inflame unrestrained,

Goodwill to envy they have chained,

Poisoned hearts once open wide,

Now guarded, envy amplified.

They seek out souls content and stable,

And leave them anxious, cold, unstable.

What was calm now discordant clamor,

Courtesy vanished, in its place anger.

All the gentle joys they taint and tarnish,

Craving chaos, suffering toarnish,

Twisting hearts once bright and true,

Now disfigured, light subdued.

The demons relish human pain unleashed,

When kin on kin violence is unleashed,

Brother striking down his brother,

As malice stokes wrath without cover.

Avarice they nurture without moderation,

Breeding cruelty and degradation,

Luring minds to endless hunger,

Hearts now hardened, compassion muffled.

They corrupt souls once righteous,

Now crooked, morals sacrificed.

Integrity abandoned for fortune's pile,

Scruples swapped for spoils so vile.

They appeal to ego unchecked,

Flatter pride until intellect wrecked,

Reason capsized by vanity's tide,

Wisdom eroded by arrogance and pride.

Souls they ensnare in hedonism's cage,

Addicted to empty sensualism stage,

Bodies worshipped, minds neglected,

To dissolute lives interjected.

But worst of all, fury they summon,

Anger's waves till they become

Flooding torrents none withstand,

Hatred swells now out of hand.

Vengeful anger out of control,

Consumes all reason, rages roll,

Into violence, chaos unconstrained,

Peace and order fully profaned.

Envy, greed, pride, wrath—in their wake

Suffering souls tremble, virtues shake,

As demons revel in mortal distress,

The more agony, the more they bless

Their horrid unholy congregation,

And ply their ruthless trade of degradation.

Yet if we dare to open our eyes,

And see past their clever well-spun lies,

Their wickedness is but reflection,

Of man's own vile predilection

To harm his brother, sow butchery,

When let loose from morality.

For man needs no demon to stir up ill,

Commit vile deeds, torture and kill.

No, he readily walks villainy's road

When ethics and conscience erode.

See how men wage such cruel wars,

Slaughtering innocents by the scores,

Invading, conquering without justification,

Spreading terror cross every nation.

Not demon's machinations but man's own hand,

That makes wastelands across every land.

In the name of greed, might, and ideology profane,

He unleashes fury, death in its train.

Torture, rape, ethnic cleansings galore,

Depravity and horror's full store.

Not archfiends but humankind bearing the brand,

Of depraved horrors only mortals can fully plan.

Pillage and plunder, strong over weak,

Hearts turned stone cold, compassion besieged,

Mercy and justice both cast aside,

When man's dark hunger is glorified.

See how he persecutes his fellow man,

Upon spurious reasons his cruelty fan.

Bigotry, prejudice borne by ignorance,

To stoke pyres of unreflective hate.

Witch hunts, lynch mobs, the oppressed enslave,

Tyranny that none should ever crave.

But man perfects these machines abhorrent,

To sow anguish, leave lives torn and torrent.

He turns doctor to torturer so very easily,

When his empathy is bent readily.

Inflicting horrifying pain in name of science,

On captive souls without defiance.

The strongest beasts are fragile men in packs,

Mob mentality that decency sacks,

Incited to commit such brutal crimes,

In dissolution's frenzy morality unwinds.

So man needs no demon's virulent touch,

He can make hell real with little as such.

No supernatural graft is required,

For human evil to be so mired.

The sins men lay at demon's crooked feet,

Are but their own inclinations concrete.

All the terrors they from hell's denizens anticipate,

Are mere reflections of man's true innate

Potential for both reckless evil and sacred good,

Always fickle, ever misunderstood.

So gaze not obsessively at phantoms from the mire,

But confront the heart's shadowed dire

Depths within, where both angels and demons vie,

For primacy over the soul's helm rely.

For the choice resides within each mind's dominion,

Follow fiends or more divine vision.

We all can fall prey to demons whispering sweet,

Without firm defenses chaos they'll meet.

So fortify virtue against their innovative attacks,

And slay the fiends breaking through the cracks.

Let compassion, wisdom and empathy fine,

Nature your mind and conscience refine,

So no hellions can gain a foothold there,

In psyche centered, fully aware.

Then external demons will flee your light,

Your inner radiance puts them to rout in flight.

Their shadows cannot endure the sun unveiled deep within,

Where love, truth and peace their empire rescind.

Look not obsessively at phantasmic monsters,

But nurture the good within, life's holiest answer.

Plant seeds of mercy, justice, hope and care,

Then demons will find no fertile ground there.

Reform society with these eternal truths,

Dispel ignorance that demonic delusions pursues.

Spread compassion far and wide over the land,

So fiends find no place to make their stand.

Each mind awakened weakens demonkind's power,

Dispelling darkness, evil's seed to devour.

Ignorance is the womb where their sinister breed grows,

So turn knowledge's light upon them, humanity's hope flows.

This is the only exorcism that will avail,

Banish demons back to their netherworld impale.

Reclaim this world for goodness, light and worth,

And deny the damned any ground for rebirth.

Then balance restored, disharmony healed,

Man will ensure demons remain sealed

Away in abyssmal pits where they fester,

Their reign finished, humanity's zenith come at last.

So let us join in ardour to cleanse earthly sphere,

With truth, justice and enlightenment pierce fear's spear.

Then demons will descend in fullest retreat,

Back to vile depths in decisive defeat.

But the work is hard, we must begin now,

Pick up tools of wisdom and compassion endow,

The global garden that is overrun with cruelty,

Return it to state of humanity's native purity.

Labour long, but rejoice in righteous victory foretold,

Evil is but brief mist that cannot forever hold

Against the sun's brilliant rays soon to stream,

Across this world, long lost Utopia's dream.

Let hope's clarion ring, calling all hands rise,

To secure paradise before night fully cries,

For demons only thrive in desperate shade,

Their dominion fails when hearts unafraid

Join in ardent faith goodwill prevails ever,

No matter how long the campaign, surrender never!

Onward then bold soldiers armed with care, wit and love,

To emancipate all hearts from demon machinations thereof.