I once was a menial servant.
My mother was a slave,
bound down with chains.
Because I was one of her children,
I was kept in bondage with her.
I was a servant
to the god of this world,
and I served him day and night.
While I was his servant,
he killed me over and over;
he murdered me many times.
He put hard labor and toil upon me,
and weighed me down
with his heavy chains of iron.
While I served him,
he tormented me
with all the known miseries of mankind.

While he killed and tormented me,
with his heavy chains upon my back,
I worshipped him
as though he was a god.
I worshipped him
as I carried his iron chains around my neck.
I worshipped him as he killed me;
I worshipped him
while he tormented me.
And the only reward I ever received
came from the toil of my own hands.
Sweat and toil and torment,
those are the rewards
I received from him
in return for the adoration
I gave to him.

I heard the Devil’s music.
He played a violin for my ears.
Instead of charming a snake,
I was being charmed by a snake!
The music put me in a trance.
I listened intently
because it was a strange tune,
a very unusual tune.
I had never heard anything like it.
I was enthralled by it.
He played the violin
in a very quick and lively manner.
The more I listened,
the more deeply under his spell I sank.
I visualized a group
of primitive naked aborigines
dancing frenziedly to his erratic tune.
I was totally mesmerized by the music
of the Pied Piper of the whole world.

I heard the Devil’s laughter.
When he knew
I had fallen into his hands,
unable to escape,
then he laughed in my ears.
He laughed at me
because of the state I was in.
I’ve never before heard a laugh like it,
and hope to never hear it again!
The only word that can describe it
is “diabolical,”
and that word is too mild.
It was an evil laugh,
a laughter of derision,
a laughter that implied,
“You are mine!
I have taken you back
and you have no hope of escape now!”

The Word of God
did not exaggerate in the least
when He said,
“My yoke is easy,
and my burden is light.”
His burden is as light as a feather,
and His yoke I can hardly feel.
It’s a joy to bear His yoke
upon my shoulders -
rather than the heavy iron one it replaced.
I will carry His light burden wherever I go,
and sing with happiness while I carry it -
because it’s so much lighter
than the weighty burdens I used to carry
when I was still a slave,
forced to hard labor
and bound with chains.