the devil came to visit me
speaking of a flattened rodent.
both she and it were mine one time.
both i apparently abandoned.

my eyes had no will to confess
how many women i undressed.
caught naked, weak, and unprepared
for the love that wasn't there

how could a smile half-pretend
a man can be a different man.
she wasn't a believer
it cut her, but it didn't bleed her

the devil came to visit
her on a couch, me on a chair
drowning in the caricatures
of the love that wasn't there