The Devil As He Is

From the Rock Island Argus, July 9, 1914. By Henry Howland.

They give the devil hoofs and horns
    Who picture him with brush or pen,
So that whoever fears or scorns
    The dread arch enemy of men
May know him for a fiend, may know
    The cunning that is in his glances,
And, therefore, meet him as a foe
    However slyly he advances.

They err who have him thus portrayed
    So that all men may know him well;
He comes without a hoof displayed
    Or anything that smacks of hell;
He comes fair-fronted, with a smile
    That quickly rids us of suspicion
And makes us think him splendid while
    He guides us downward to perdition.