‘Legion’: A Poem by M.D. Skeen

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Legion

Hello there friend, our name is Legion
We are those same 6000 demons
Who long ago in Gerasenes
Became a man’s mental disease.
We took a normal happy child
And turned him feral, naked, wild,
Drove him to live amongst the tombs
With open sores, infected wounds,
Covered in cob-webs, dust, and ash,
Thrown to the ground to writhe and thrash
And roll around over the stones
Which covered rotten flesh and bones,
Gave him the strength to break his chains
While we were squirming in his brains.
For years that poor man lived in squalor
Where he would gibber, howl, and holler
Till one day through a storm at sea
There came some men from Galilee.
Approaching us with flashing eyes
The Lord saw through our thin disguise.
Despite our vast majority
He spoke with such authority
That, our position perilous,
We begged him not to torture us,
But rather cast us in a herd
Of pigs, I know, it seems absurd.
He sent us shrieking to the swine
Which ran down to the frothing brine
And plunging in the foaming waves
We left the mad man of the graves,
Who blinking, sanely, dressed and raised
His voice to sing the Savior’s praise.
2,000 years to convalesce,
We seek new victims to possess
Be on your guard and always pray
We don’t decide to come your way.

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M.D. Skeen works as an attorney in Denver, Colorado.