The Devil Rides

A vision of the impending apocalypse...

The Devil rides where the warlords reign,

Apocalypse revisited again and again,

Another bloodbath, another nation dies,

As Hell's cauldron bubbles under burning skies.

The Devil dreams of darkness,

An all-pervasive night,

A global pitch black fastness,

No surviving trace of light.

As he stalks across the earth,

On his pale horse called Death,

With famine as his serf,

And plague at his behest,

He summons demons to command his armies,

Veils them in human form,

Corpses are his harvest,

Torture becomes the norm.

Chaos rides the Night Mare,

Terror struts the street,

Horror haunts the dark stair,

Humanity is reduced to meat.

The forces of evil gather,

On that Eastern arid plain,

The armies of light would rather,

Not face destruction again.

But when the prophecies seem fulfilled,

And the world goes up in flames,

The voice of fear must be stilled,

It does no good to call on holy names.

Armageddon is upon us,

The Devil has his way,

The long night is ubiquitous,

This is mankind's final day.

© 2018 The Iron Horseman

Author's Note

I was in an apocalyptic frame of mind when I wrote this! Can you tell? :)

Reviews

[barleygirl]

I really love this message becuz it suits my mood about how our world is going into the toilet lately. I'm glad I never had kids & selfishly I don't care if we dumb humans destroy our habitat. I'm old & I won't have to watch this train wreck too much longer. Your poem starts out a teensy bit stiff, but then it gets very vivid & passionate as you go along. You know I adore such peppy rhyme & rhythm! *smile* The approach of Halloween makes me crave this kind of over-the-top spoof/reality-exaggeration type macabre feast of gory details -- stanza 5 especially! (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie

[The Iron Horseman]

Thanks, Margie. I know what you mean; I was in a black mood when I wrote this. I had been listening to too much of Trump's arvings and too many of his lies, and was reflecting on how many megalomaniacs we seem to have running countries nowadays. That led to contemplating where that path inevitably goes, and here we are! Your description of 'train wreck' describes the situation perfectly.

So, let's agree to never get into a bleak mood at the same time; I need your delightful sense of humor and satirical wit, along with your masterfully light, airy pieces, to lift my spirit when I'm down!

[Coyote Poetry]

Sometime my friend. The below words seem to be true in our world.
"Armageddon is upon us,
The Devil has his way,
The long night is ubiquitous,
This is mankind's final day."
Seem evil, war and separation is the purpose of life. I hope for better days. Thank you my friend for sharing the outstanding poetry.
Coyote

[The Iron Horseman]

Thank you, Coyote. I have been off here for a while - moving house - but I should be around more now. I hope you are staying safe in these troubled times, my friend. Stay well.

[Coyote Poetry]

You are welcome and stay safe my friend.

[andrew mitchell]

In reality the devil is man himself, nice write.

[The Iron Horseman]

Thank you, Andrew. Agreed, but he is an interesting metaphor. :)

[Stacy Purvis]

I'm not here as often as I would like, but when I am, I take advantage and read as much of your ahhhmazing stuff as I can. Incredible

[The Iron Horseman]

Hi Stacy. It's always good to hear from you when you are here! Thank you for the nice compliment. It is great to know that you enjoy my stuff, because that is the sole motivation for doing it as far as I am concerned - to give others a little bit of pleasure. Have you written any new stuff lately?

[Stacy Purvis]

I'm working on it 😉

[The Iron Horseman]

Looking forward to it!

[Paul Bell]

The world at war. You can feel it, so tangible now.
The great white race is rebelling. We've had it too good for too long.
The far right is gaining support in every country now.
I think the future aint looking bright.

[The Iron Horseman]

I agree. Things seem to be spinning out of control everywhere. Need a new planet!

[john l smith]

I don't know if your well written poem is overly apocalyptic.
Perhaps a bit premature, but a look off into our future does seem a bit dark
Probably why marijuana is being legalized

[The Iron Horseman]

Trump was on my mind when I wrote this! If anyone can bring on the apocalypse it willbe that idiot!

[john l smith]

That is for sure
Did you read Angels poem on Trump
Very funny

[The Iron Horseman]

No, I haven't seen that. I will check it out.

[Julie McCarthy (juliesp..]

ooh i love this
yes the end of the world has a few seasons of destruction yet
we never know when it will end or if it will end hopefully wont
what im most afraid of is the sun getting so powerfully hot and the winters so cold that we wont survive. that would be sudden death indeed.
im old and do feel for my children and others younger.

i wrote poems about pollution and the world destroying itself by mankind when i was under ten and sent them to the local kids paper section and the editor paid us less than a dollar to publish. probably around 50 c lol
i thought i was rich probably was i could buy a bag of lollies or ten for that price
love your poem by the way thanks for the share

[The Iron Horseman]

Thanks, Julie. Glad you liked it. I was dwelling too much on the mess the world is in when I wrote this!
And thank you for the anecdote. I used to spend all my paper round money on sweeties when I was a kid too!

[Poetic License]

I L-O-V-E IT!!!! Huge fan of the effortless flow and meter of this one. You certainly create the inexorably feeling in the reader, who has no choice but to see it to the end of Armageddon. Well done, my friend. Now.... about the huntress.......

[The Iron Horseman]

Hi, PL. Thank you for the compliment. Funny you should be thinking about the Huntress; I just mentioned to my wife today that I think it's time she had another outing (The Huntress, not my wife :) ) but I need some inspiration for her next adventure. The Huntress usually tells me what she wants, but she has been quiet lately. I am searching the ether as we speak!

[BBP]

Well....that's dark as f**k! lol You just wrote so many people's nightmares right there! It was done perfectly.

[The Iron Horseman]

Lol! Thanks, BBP. That's exactly how I was feeling at the time!

[Einstein Noodle]

hope is drawn out of me as I read ..i like the language ..it fits the theme and charcters ..... heard Charlie Daniels dueling with the devil in the background ;) https://youtu.be/tnepPZChA5U
E.

[The Iron Horseman]

Sorry if I depressed you, Noodle Soup. Checked out your link. Not my kind of music, but a good song nonetheless. A bit too cheerful for this poem though; maybe Black Sabbath? :)

[Einstein Noodle]

ahahaha yeah ..that might do! knowing the Dark .. reveals the Light eh!? and visa versa ;}

[The Iron Horseman]

Yeah. Sabra Cadabra, he said! Lol!