The Demon A poem by Kashif Nasir

 

The demon in the night

Keeps me up all night

It writes the words I do not know

And says the thing I cannot so

It writes the poems

And makes the art

And when the morning comes

It departs

He is the one who has the urge

To paint the canvas with his words

I think he is lonely too

Where he goes in the day I do not know

I must do, I must do his will

To write the words and stay still

And when he has done his part

He will leave me and depart

And in the morning people will praise

The work I did with demon’s grace

This lonely demon has no soul

It wants my heart, it wants me whole

It just wants to consume my life

So I can just sit there and type

I want to quit I want to go

I have done enough

I know, I know

This demon is really strange

He is sick, he is deranged

He just wants me to write a verse

And then he says he will free me from this curse

The curse is that I must write and write

And writing not

Find no respite

I am tired of this lonely curse

I am tired of this craft of verse