Daniel

== = = =The Game of Souls= By Daniel Sloane

There once was a mansion down south, Upon a farm, it look uncouth, For abandoned it had been, Until the Devil filled it with sin, Because a murder had happened here, 5 Filling the tenants with much fear, Now the Devil had returned, And thirteen men, they had learned, Of an invitation to play a game, Of poker, but this was insane, 10 For a chance to gain immortality, They would risk eternal immorality, For if they lost, their souls would go, To the Devil, with whom terror they would sow, And now the game begins in earnest, 15 In the room with the raging furnace, A Saudi Arabian prince won the first hand, He had made his money from the oil in his land, The next to win was badly scarred Jack, Whose horrendous crimes in his little old shack, 20 Had gained the attention of the Devil, He had twenty-seven human skulls upon which he would revel, The next hand went to the governor of Texas, Who stole millions of tax-payer money to afford a tricked-out Lexus, By this time, the other players were out, 25 Except for the Devil, whose hand he did not doubt, For in it was an King and a Four, And the Devil was certainly not a bore, Up came the flop, and then the turn, For a matching card, the devil did yearn, 30 Then came the river, and with it a Four, The Devil knew in his mind, he had it for sure, He manipulated the table into thinking his hand was bad, He pretended that it was the worst yet he had had, The players fell for the trick one by one, 35 And soon they were all in, and the bidding was done, It became time to reveal their hands, And so the Saudi Prince from a faraway land, Revealed a Ten and a Four, a single pair, And the governor of Texas laughed, for he would share, 40 A Jack and a Four, sealing the Prince's fate, His soul's dominion, the Devil would await, And badly smiled Jack smiled a hideous smile, For his hand, the governor would revile, A Queen and a Four he laid on the table, 45 Jack looked like Cain himself, after slaying Abel, But then the Devil himself revealed his hand, And it went exactly as planned, For the Devil revealed a Four and the King, To all the players, terror he would bring, 50 For the King of Diamonds had beaten them all, And down to Hell, their souls would now fall, To this very day, the mansion is haunted, And thirteen soulless men stand in the windows undaunted, Waiting for a time to do the Devil's bidding, 55 Just as they too, had lost their souls, bidding.

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