Poem 169: PUGNATOR DEI

"The demon is a liar. He will lie to confuse us; but he will also mix lies with the truth to attack us. The attack is psychological, Damien. And powerful. Do not listen. Remember that. Do not listen."

--Father Merrin

but Damien Karras
departed from the script

deviated from the ritual

went wide of the text

all else having faded with use
and with the demon's sense of entitlement
becoming ever more grotesquely
engorged

Damien, the only surviving exorcist
now,
when death was closing up her eyes
as if to say 'OK FINE'
turned pugilist



and made the absolute most
of the incipient crack
in Pazuzu's carnal facade:
that was also, it must be said,
a psychological attack