Asmodeus – Jason Reid

April 16, 2026

The Greeks thought there was meaning in slaughter—
The Danaids, Trojan cycle, and all that
Aeschylus wrote (what would he have been without
Death?). Those Greeks sharpened their stories until
The page could sever arteries, spray blood,
Agamemnon’s blood, blithely in the tub,
On a queen’s order. Their oral tradition
Took pride in names — the catalog of ships;
Sarpedon’s stirring speech, then Glaucus gives
Way. But no armor can protect all.
You cannot know the names of the Ithacans
Who died by Scylla. Did you want to know
Them? We, preparing for bed, refuse to know.
We can’t tell you who drank like a dog and
Slew men with Gideon. No one prides in Job’s
Wife’s name. The children that died? Disappeared in
A line. Ink silently exploded into
A messy and indelible stain upon
A shirt. And Zeus did not order the deaths
Of Trojan children, though we know Zeus is
A demon — and our Lord is true. We do
Not dignify death with a human face.
We pray for, but do not recount the names
Of those who died before Tobias trying
To marry Sarah. Did they know the bride
Price they bartered for, was the price of their
Lives? Rings put on for half a day’s memory
And dirt’s eternity. We cannot retain
All the lost names dark angels claim, nor should
We desire so. We choose to forget.
Violence is pointless evil; therefore it is sacred,
But not holy. God shall purge us of these demons.