they brought the devil
on a ship named Shame
first to my ancestors
and then to yours
unpacking their portable Hells
on the banks of our shores
like bio weapons
to infect our DNA
lodged as spores
inside our minds

do not believe them
when they say
shame is the inoculation
that keeps the Devil at bay
when the power of our shame
is what gives their Satan its form
and the only hell we have to fear
is the cage we construct
with the inauthentic
and the struggle to hide
that we fall short
not of what we truly want
but what we think we have to be

Hell exists first
inside the dimension
behind the eyes
and then is recreated externally
by the nightmares we pass off
to ourselves and to others
under the disguise of dreams
when they are only
fights and flights from terrors
and not pursuits of glories
we seek to manifest
and inflict upon this Earth

Heaven is a place
where we make peace
with our truths
and shame becomes
as much illusion
as the imaginary devils
we let take space and haunt
the sacred temples
of the holiness of our being

so if possession
by the devil is evil
why let the concept of sin
poses you at all
when you are free
to possess yourself
under the sovereignty
of your truth