The Temptress by James Weldon Johnson — Read

Old Devil, when you come with horns and tail, / With diabolic grin and crafty leer;

I say, such bogey-man devices wholly fail / To waken in my heart a single fear.

But when you wear a form I know so well, / A form so human, yet so near divine;

'Tis then I fall beneath the magic of your spell, / 'Tis then I know the vantage is not mine.

Ah! when you take your horns from off your head, / And soft and fragrant hair is in their place;

I must admit I fear the tangled path I tread / When that dear head is laid against my face.

And at what time you change your baleful eyes / For stars that melt into the gloom of night, / All of my courage, my dear fellow, quickly flies;

I know my chance is slim to win the fight.

And when, instead of charging down to wreck / Me on a red-hot pitchfork in your hand, / You throw a pair of slender arms about my neck, / I dare not trust the ground on which I stand.

Whene'er in place of using patent wile, / Or trying to frighten me with horrid grin, / You tempt me with two crimson lips curved in a smile;

Old Devil, I must really own, you win.