The Devil and Mr. Deanes

The Devil and Mr. Deanes

A Poem by David Lewis Paget

Mr. Deanes climbed into the lift,

Went up to the fortieth floor,

He’d worked in the building for twenty years

But never been up there before,

His job at the Allied Insurance had been

Part of the round of cuts,

Some kid had taken over his desk,

So Mr. Deanes said - ‘Nuts!’

 

It wasn’t as if he’d prospered there,

He’d started as Clerk, Class 1,

Filling out scads of rejection forms

The others had left undone,

He’d sat on a basic salary

So overtime was unpaid,

And Mr. Quim kept an eye on him

From the height of his glass lined cage.

 

It took ten years to become Clerk 2

And the rise was a piddling one,

Barely enough to keep meat on the bones

Of a wife and a bone lazy son,

He wasn’t surprised when his wife had left

For some fellow she’d met at the church,

When his son succumbed to the drugs he’d bummed,

Even God left him in the lurch.

 

So when he came out on the fortieth floor

Of the tallest building in town,

He strode on out to the balcony

And wasn’t afraid, looking down.

‘How bad can it be?’ he thought to himself

As he climbed up over the rail,

‘Just thirty seconds of fear, and free!’

As he balanced, ready to sail.

 

He raised his arms, looked up at the sky

In a moment of utter despair,

‘It won’t be long and I’m done with it,

With the wind blowing through my hair.’

But something caught at his collar then

Said, ‘This is the time to choose!

I’ll give you all that a man could want,

What have you got to lose?’

 

He climbed on down, and the man in black

Held a contract up to his face,

‘Better to live like a millionaire

Than to die in an utter disgrace!

Just prick your finger and sign in blood

Your DNA makes it whole,’

‘And what will it cost,’ said Mr. Deanes,

‘At the end, you give me your soul!’

 

Now Mr. Deanes was a cautious man

And he read the form, each bit,

‘I’d like to be given a sporting chance,

Can we make it double or quit?’

The devil smiled in his cunning way

And he scribbled an extra line,

‘I’ll tell you what, if you win the spin

I’ll even let you take mine!’

 

He signed the form with a flourish then

And stood in a brand new suit,

Travelled on down in the lift again

And headed for Quim, to dispute.

‘There’s been an error,’ said Mr. Quim,

You’re up on the seventh floor,

I hear they’ve taken you onto the Board,

They didn’t tell me before.’

 

It was ‘How are you going, Mr. Deanes,

May I carry your coat and hat?’

The phone would ring, and a king or queen

Would just pop by for a chat,

His chauffeur had a familiar air

As he stared from his seat in the back,

He couldn’t quite put his finger on it

But the chauffeur was dressed in black.

 

He spent his summers in Saint Tropez

And motored down to his yacht,

He took the wheel in the Fastnet Race

With a skill that he’d forgot,

He lazed around with the party crowd

And spent like a man obsessed,

A cute young dolly on either arm

And each with mammoth breasts.

 

His twenty years passed like a dream

And the day of reckoning came,

A man turned up in dark black suit,

‘It’s time! Now ain’t it a shame?’

But Mr. Deanes had a single spin

With a coin he kept in his fob,

‘I get to call it, and I call heads,’

The devil grinned, ‘let’s lob!’

 

The coin spun high in the air and fell,

Then bounced a couple of times,

The smile was wiped from the devil’s face

He cursed with a word that rhymes.

So Mr. Deanes got the devil’s soul

And he feels it, deep in his loins,

He’ll never grow old, or so I’m told

While he holds the two-headed coin!

 

David Lewis Paget

© 2013 David Lewis Paget


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Reviews

A meeting and matching of equals one might suggest.

Posted 11 Years Ago


I really liked that it would be nice to win just once And leave the old devil at the crossroads cursing

Posted 11 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

Sounds like.you had fun with this one....good. stoty

Posted 11 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

Fooling the devil. Nice.

Posted 11 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

Me thinks the devil blinks...very fun read.

Posted 11 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

Now this one I had figured out ahead..and that is rare for me with your crafty writes,,Another great one david..You write them and I will reead each one..Katihe

Posted 11 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

If the Devil were just that dumb... Ha. Funny to turn the tables.
I enjoyed the write.

Posted 11 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

Ah, I figured the man had a plan. Nicely played!

Posted 11 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

Ah...very good. The devil can be fooled. He isn't smart, just cunning...

Posted 11 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

The ole devil, ha ha.

Posted 11 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.


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14 Reviews
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Added on February 17, 2013
Last Updated on February 17, 2013
Tags: fear, despair, yacht, coin

Author

David Lewis Paget
David Lewis Paget

Moonta, South Australia, Australia



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