And Satan Walked the Earth that Day

Poetry

A Thousand Dimensions

Ian Bradley Marshall

Foreword

Written in Liverpool on 11 July 2009 and first published under the title Job ~ Lucifer: Salvation by Spiderwize UK in the first Anthology Idle Thoughts in September 2009 After Job (pronounced Jobe) and is “a take” on the Book of Job in the Bible.

And Satan Walked the Earth That Day imagines a conversation between Light and Darkness, rendered as God and the devil or satan or Beelzebub. The powers of darkness are real. We all know that, even if we perceive this only by reference to human nature. The title also comes from the Book of Job (NKJV).

I revisited the poem on 17 May 2015 and again in 2019, approving its continuance, notwithstanding my anger with all religions in these very troubled 150 years.

In 2019, I reached my conclusion, thrashed out over many years of quiet deliberation, contemplation, study and aloneness, and yes, pain, angst, and sheer unmitigated dread, and, yes, prayer as well.

But the peace that followed is one I cannot describe to anyone, nor will attempt to.

This enabled me to conclude this harrowing piece with Part XIV and Part XV.

The figure of satan, for me, personally, is allegorical. I have no doubts at all about what all religions perceive and report as the powers of darkness. That phenomenon is very real, very present, here and, I’m sure, in other dimensions too.

A single character? What was accepted as irrefutable in Aeons past, today, for me, is fairytale.

I speak only for myself, of course, but all I see in the argument of a single character, is that this played to the machinations of men’s minds down the centuries seeking to maintain control over their largely illiterate populations.

But it makes a good story.

It also teaches me much, even though I sometimes think those who eventually inscribed the scroll of Job, might have allowed their imaginations to run away with the candle, when it made a mad dash for the breeze in the darkened stony passage!

Eden, Adam, Eve, Lucifer, the devil, satan, Beelzebub, hell ~ in a word, Humankind ~ has done well to provide explanations that seemed to be so obvious in the thousands of years over which they were written.

Today, however?

Well, that is for the individual.

Ian Bradley Marshall

PART I

And tell Me.

What have you been doing?

This one knew when he

could not play god

but he’d stand his ground anyway...

Lucifer

The light bearer,

Fallen.

Fallen?

No way.

Oh! But yes.

Fallen and for a time

allowed his pre-eminence,

his authority.

Not for this moment

did he slither through the grass,

keep the contours of the rocks,

hide in the crevices...

That comes later.


At the point of the Quill.

For now, this moment,

time, times

and half again,

as of course it is written so they say,

Lucifer can masquerade

even as a minister of righteousness,

if the fancy takes him.

But here, Here, satan keeps his place.

Here he does not hold court,

he is not a king,

But he is the prince of darkness.

I’ve been wandering to and fro

across the Universe...

This fallen angel

bristles with indignation

at the shower of derision,

loathing,

contempt even,

of the Host of Heaven.

Alone here,

he catches a brief and momentary

glimpse

of his eternal damnation.

Have you considered My servant...?’

He only worships You

because of what he has,

give me authority

and I will show You

what he really is,

I will lift up

his corrupted heart

from the very Altar

where You exchanged fallen man

for the ram caught in a thicket!

Challenge

He only worships You

because of what he has,

give me authority

and I will show You

what he really is,

I will lift up

his corrupted heart

from the very Altar

where You exchanged fallen man

for the ram caught in a thicket!

Very well.

But you shall not lift a finger

against him personally,

you shall not touch him... ...

PART II

And satan walked

the earth that day.

Black became white,

White became black.

Natural was unnatural,

The Unnatural revelled

in the cloak of naturalness.

A quiet murmur,

A ripple through the Host
‘How can everything have

been reversed?
Crimes now legitimate!
Equitable laws now outlawed!

Surely, it must be

 The fallen host,

third all told,
the bidding

of their master, undertaken…

Stricken!

The index rose

The FTSE fell.

Like FDR’s elastic band,

the market boomed

and then went bust,

and thwacked a million

lives

and ransacked fifty million more... ...!

And satan walked the earth

with glee

Observing the disorder,

the chaos

Counting the souls

he’d won in the process,

Perversely Revered!

And he would break

the human spirit,

And prove his kingship,

his absolute authority.

It may have been a match too far

to be thrice thwarted

by the Son of Man

but that was two millennia ago.

Mere humans would not

dare defy him,

Everyone would bow the knee to him,

exalt him,

and declare him

‘The Most High’

... but even the thought of

assuming that title

convulsed satan with suddenness,

and his fallen host

across the Milky Way

shrank back,

dejected, humbled…

– their lord and master - 

powerless! ... ...;

A fallen being,

A quivering wreck,

that only by His Grace

maintained his beauty

before the Fall.

PART III

And satan walked the earth that day

… pitching sons against fathers,

mothers against daughters,

sibling rivalries now his speciality,

wars and insurrections

his elevenses!

Pitch religions against each other,

Strike at modernity

with medieval viciousness,

Behead Caucasians,

Then four-quarter rebellious Muslims

in four compass points

from a standing start!

Bring down Flight 636;

overturn the

Herald of Free Enterprise.

Bomb the heart out of

Manchester,

Enniskillen,

Iraq,

Baghdad,

and Pakistan;

Paris,

and London and

Westminster Bridge ... ...

Strike at Somalia,

Provoke North Korea

Whisper into the ears

of despotic generals

in the hours of the night

beneath mosquito nets

slumbering and slouching

on fat bellies,

then awakening;

issuing orders for a

spot of further ethnic cleansing.

Bring spite into households,

Bring death into schoolrooms,

Deliver innocents to corrupt officials

- who in turn -

release the guilty

hardened criminals
bang up innocents, torture too,

and see no wrong

in reversing the status quo.

PART IV

And satan walked the earth that day

through boardrooms

and stock exchanges

and watched the money markets

spiral out of men’s control

and into his control;

passing by cash machines

ripped out of walls,

and loitering on the gloryholes

of adjacent walls

of dark and dingy

derelict buildings

and subterranean meeting places.

Hallowed chambers

revisited,

politicians riding cash bonanzas,

running up expenses,

and blinded by his

incandescent but dirty luminous light.

He is the light!

I AM THE LIGHT BEARER

he bellowed through the heavens;

‘you are the light bearer’

the fallen host

and benighted souls

fawned in shrieks,

bending the knee,

and bowing the neck.

This is mine!

All mine!

These are mine!

I am the ruler

of the universe... …

I will be like the

Most High... … … … … … 

that last, a step too f… … … …

A convulsion of such ferocity this time;

no warning given,

spewing

venom, blood and guts

in endless torrent,

Shaking in

epileptic rage.

Time was not his

and time was running out;

how could it be

that he would lose

all that he had created?

PART V

A Still Small Voice

whispered

and the Host of Heaven

more than the myriad

stars of Heaven

gave the

Glorious Proclamation.

‘Created? you are created!

you re-create distorted images,

the limit of your authority.

And even that is governed

By He Who is greater than you,

your Creator against Whom

you dared to rebel

and when time again thus passes

you shall be no more

but forever conscious

in oblivion.

you were light but now

are impenetrable darkness;

there is no advance for you.

Darkness by the very laws of nature

yes – your creator – gives

way to Light.

you the light-bearer

dared to think you could

seize The Light?

You seized the Light

and fell to earth

like a lightning strike

and sealed your fate!!

I AM saw it, as indeed I informed the Twelve.

Will we, His Creation,

Go with you?

Some yes

But many won’t.

… you demand to be recognised

as the bearer of light

to be The Light itself.

Such arrogance

catches even the very breath

of this incomprensible Multiverse

within this incredible UNIVERSE.

But you cannot create!

All you can do is to re-create

to copy, to mirror, to pretend,

to distort.

But I know one Who can create;

And He has only to speak,

and it is!

 

“Let there be light

and there was light”

as it is written!

PART VI

And satan walked the earth

that day hell-bent on revenge

‘How dare His Word be uttered

In my presence – I, Lucifer the Light-bearer

the god of this world!’

The thought beat through

his created brain,

and so he wrought

havoc in recession;

banks crashed,

buildings toppled,

towers descended

and planes blew up.

Blackmailers abounded

Hackers quadrupled

Horrid people

Wicked people

Detestable people

wrought havoc

and held sway.

Cyber-warfare profligated

governments brought down,

elections thwarted and bent his way ... ...

Families smashed up furniture

for warmth

trading gold for a matchbox.

And In the tiny corner of the Kremlin

satan entered the mind of a man

and whispered

they say there will never

be war again in Europe.

Prove them wrong.

Unleash, invade,

kill and destroy.

Show no mercy.

Be my ever-so-faithful poodle.

And satan walked the earth

… from the southern States of the

USA

to the royal States of Australia,

laying waste to Melbourne,

and destroying Victoria.

And he revelled in

Black Friday,

as stock markets crashed,

and for his evening cocktail

took Black Saturday bushfires

in South Eastern Australia.

Outside time he raged across

the heavens

creating mayhem

disorder

murder and pillage.

PART VII

In China and India and now Nepal

In Katmandu

measuring 7.9 on the

Richter Scale.

Then for good measure

stood astride Iran and Iraq

Split asunder,

then blew up a Mosque

in Egypt for evening frivolity.

On Everest, he flicked his finger.

Avalanches wiping out all in their path.

Such wanton destruction...

he shook the earth’s foundations.

Accounts dried up,

Debt management companies

multiplied by the hour,

Bonus and incentive schemes

piled heaped like cancers upon

tortured souls of innocent debtors.

Creditors grew in hostility,

spite his natural way

of oiling up their dried-up consciences.

Dog eat dog was his order

of his day, his precursor,

his reason for existence ...

PART VIII

And satan walked the earth that day
 

his horror spat with shotgun force

at righteous people

yet covered himself on the rebound!

The heat shields of

Faith, Love and

Unconditional kindness

he could not penetrate,

as debts were paid

without interest or repayment,

or creditors took payment in kind

to ease the burden

of those wrong-footed

by this ugly apparition.

PART IX 

And satan walked the earth that day

whispered misinterpretation

of hallowed Scriptures

into the ears of narrow-minded ministers,

communicants, sidesmen,

scribes, khalifs, imams, mullahs

and ayatollahs by the score,

his especial delight.

PART X

And satan walked the earth that day

from Bosnia, Croatia

to Kosovo via Serbia;

to Georgia and Chechnya

Iraq

Iran

Afghanistan

and Syria

… that diamond

Ukraine.

And then

his jewel in his crown

Jerusalem.

Back to his relentless struggle

on that day

in Aeons past

when he soothed

his words in Eden

‘you will not surely die!’

And Eve relented

succumbed his advances,

and learned the art of manipulation;

and then his greatest triumph of all

a family squabble.

Isaac against Ishmael

two brothers,

A fued

carried down the ages

and many millennia away.

Death, destruction and

endless familial rape

based upon nothing more

than allegory,

a non-existent happening.

PART XI

And satan walked the earth that day

his especial delight,

myth and half-truth

interweaving

in such a way,

labyrinthine intrigue,

that silly minds then raised

to the hallowed utterances of Deity

and declared, for good measure,

to be the incontrovertible

word of a god …

And for those who mused

his new agenda ~

Fake News ~

and cast his net wide

without limit,

the minds of guilty and innocent alike

skewered, then skewered again

by the crown of his achievement

social media.

PART XII

And satan walked the earth that day UNTIL…

With no warning summonsed

by Queen Esther

to attend the Court of the

Most High Ancient of Days...

his Creator

and he sensed the shadow

of that wicked Haman

stalking him.

The end was upon him

and in a momentary absence,

a loss of self-control,

he writhed through grass,

and slithered over rockface,

espied a a brief crevasse,

wherein sat its occupant incubating.

Forked tongue lashed out

and anaconda-like,

engulfed,

Then slept

and sensed the nightmare

of endless conscious oblivion.

PART XIII

And satan awoke with a start,

his deity briefly restored,

satan entered the Chamber

but dared not look

at The Light…

“And where have you been?”

‘Oh wandering to and fro

throughout the earth...’

“And have you considered

My servant...?”

he would not answer

rebellious,

evil,

the hourglass emptied,

defeated ... ... ...

and on his belly

he departed... ...

Luciferian

And Lucifer stood before Them

A temporary Renewal,

invigorated,

breathing ...

Why am I here?

I rebelled against You

No.

In your thoughts and dreams,

in your nightmares

you resisted Me

and sought to be like Me

It is understandable to be like Us

It is understandable to even usurp Us

Worry not

We do not destroy those

that We create

That is not in our nature

PART XIV

 

Lucifer, We are the Triune G-D

Three In One

You are as you always have been!

Use this brief sojourn

into die holle auf erden

to help humankind...

that is all that is required of you.

Salvation is assured

and way, way beyond 

Verständnis …

 

Our ways are beyond finding out

or even reasoning;

Our means are unique.

Embrace Life

Embrace Eternity

PART XV

And Lucifer walked the earth that day

his Companion, Salvation

That nightmare

only a vicious memory

ended!

That stunning Proclamation

Resounding

through the Universe

way, way, way beyond

this tiny Galaxy… …

IT IS FINISHED

Es ist vollbracht

C'est fini

 

Он закончил

يتم الانتهاء من ذلك

זה נגמר

यह समाप्त हो गया है

Ian Bradley Marshall

9 December 2024

All Rights Reserved





LIVERPOOL




© 2024 Ian Bradley Marshall



2009 Composed 11 July 2009

 Published by Spiderwize Idle Thoughts in September 2009


2009 Original Title Job ~ Lucifer: Salvation

2022 Title changed to the thrust of the piece ~ And Satan Walked the Earth that Day

Ian Bradley Marshall


2009-2024