Letters from Lucifer

A poem inspired by The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis about the lies I almost believed, and the Grace that redeemed me. | by Taylor O’Lynn

Dearest young Taylor
Our bodies
Are meant for pleasure
Our skin
Meant to be touched
It wouldn't feel right if it were actually wrong
Just look how many want to —
Here is where you find your value
Take it easy
Lean on back
Let it ride
We’ll let it slide
Call it even

Dear Taylor,
Have you noticed the size of her ass?
The cinch in her waist?
Of course you have—in any case.
She’s got something you don’t.
And you’re lacking for it.
Time for affirmations
’Cause you can't ignore it:
You are beautiful
You are kind
You are talented with a potent mind
Seems so simple
Seems so sweet
Secretly, I take defeat..
You didn’t hear that
Thank the dark—
I don’t know what I’d do if she found her spark..

Dearest Taylor,
This feeling in your gut—
Unease and pain.
What if I told you
I could make it go away
Just the very same?
Bond you to your friends
It’s comradery
Don’t be lame.
Take a hit,
A puff,
Deep inhale—
Oh please,
Tell me how you feel.
You're feeling better, right?
Aren’t you glad you did it?
No one tell her—
Tomorrow morning will be different.

Oh, dearie?
What would you say if I told you
You could call in anything you wanted?
That you were one with god,
All on your own.
Just write it down and it’s yours.
The stars will align
The earth will turn
Mercury will hide
And you’ll get your return.
Whoever you want to be—
Do we have a deal?

Me me me
I I I
Self self self—
That’s right where he wants me.
See,
I didn’t know.
The darkness never comes out and says
Worship me—so
Just
Worship yourself
And get all you ever wanted.
But at what cost?
Perpetually being haunted.

My mind, a graveyard
With spirits running, screaming—
Tearing at the seams,
Tempting me to bleeding
Or leaning
Into another set of eyes,
Another pair of lips,
Or a supple pair of thighs.
Validation.
Sensation.
The hottest in the room.
Getting anyone I want,
Anyone I choose.
Cocky—but true.
My pride:
A ruse.
Insecurity at the bottom,
Emptiness ensues.
Take another hit.
Make it go away.
I am beautiful.
I am confident.
I don’t wanna see another day..

Hey Taylor!
Hit the gas.
Not the joint or the books.
Leave the journal.
Leave the friends.
Join the dirty crooks.
That’s all you’ll ever be, see?
Your body—
It’s filthy.
Your family—
They hate you.
No one
Will miss you.
The world keeps turning.
And maybe—get this—
If you defeat death,
You’re as powerful as it gets.
C’mon.
Pull the trigger.
Down the hatch.
Do you think you’re enough?
If you don’t do it,
Someone else will.
I’ve got you by the scruff.
I was kidding—
You’re a god.
Perfect as you are.
It’s just your mental illness.
Wild. Bizarre.

The story gets crazy.
I could spill it if you want.
But here’s how it ends:
I never would’ve thought—

Are you there?

Welcome home,
He cheers.
Curling in the dust,
Head in my hands—

He met me there
And I hear harps and harmonies.
The heavens above rejoice.

Hold me through this,
I cry
For a mercy
That He has already won.

Blowing away the dust and
Cracking apart the pages
Of the only love story
Ever written
As He introduces Himself—
One Word at a time.

Arms open wide—
The same as mine
When I ran back to sin
Time and time again.

But His grace is the smell of
Linens, lavender, and warm honey.

Every morning,
The mercies—
Like breakfast and coffee.
Freshly made
And most important.

From the chaos of the chasm I made,
I stand there.
Hair tattered
And knees scraped.
Tried to do it myself—
Tricked and torn,
Burnt and bruised.
Wrongly convinced.
Now
Rightfully convicted.

I clutch the hem of His garment,
Reluctant to ever let it go again.
He says:
You are forgiven.

Not thief.
Not liar.
Not cheat.
Not whore.
Not Taylor.

Daughter.

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Come and See

A dialogue-style prose poem exploring the raw questions we would ask Jesus—and the answers He gives.

-By Taylor O’Lynn

Me: Where were you? Where the hell were you when my world fell apart? Do you even care? Or are you just watching from your pedestal while people suffer? Babies die, mothers scream, men become monsters. And you? You do nothing. Tell me why I should believe in a God like that.

Jesus: Your anger is righteous. The world is cruel, and your heart knows it shouldn’t be this way. I know your pain, daughter, I feel it, too. But do you want answers, or just someone to blame?

Me: Both. If you could heal lepers with a touch, why not the whole world?

Jesus: Because healing isn’t just about flesh, it’s about hearts and minds. And most people would rather limp with what they know than walk in what they don’t understand.

Me: That’s not fair. Kids don’t ask for cancer. Women don’t ask for assault.

Jesus: No, they don’t. How much more do you think it breaks my heart for my children to suffer? This world is broken, and you feel it, don’t you? It groans under the weight of its own rebellion. The enemy brought death, but I bring life. And still, the world turns away.

Me: So you just watch? While children cry themselves to sleep? While the innocent suffer? While the wicked go free? Why don’t you fix it?

Jesus: I see it all. Every tear. Every injustice. But make no mistake. I don’t just watch. I became death, bled, and broke so that suffering would not have the final word. But people love the dark because it hides them. Would you really want me to ‘fix’ everything if it meant exposing everything? Even what’s inside you?

Me: That’s different. I’m not a murderer, I’m not—

Jesus: But you have turned away when you should have stepped in. You have cursed men made in my image and let bitterness nest in your heart. You rage against the evil you see, but what about the evil that lives quietly in you? No man is righteous.

Me: Then why even the animals? Why were they hunting, surviving, fighting to live before human sin ever entered the picture? Why must creation suffer for something it never chose?

Jesus: Because it wasn’t suffering—it was design. Before the fall, the lion hunted, the deer fled, the fish swam against the current not in fear, but in rhythm. There was no tragedy, only movement, only life. Death, as you know it, did not exist. There was no separation, no loss. But when sin entered, corruption followed. And what was once design became death. Now even the earth cries, waiting to be made whole again. One day, I will restore it all. But I wait because I am patient, and there are still many more to come home.

Me: That’s not enough. I still don’t get why suffering has to happen at all.

Jesus: Because you think this life is all there is. But I told you—in this world, you will have trouble. Yet I also said, take heart, for I have overcome the world.

Me: So we just suffer and hope it means something?

Jesus: No. You suffer with me, and it is changed. Pain without me is just pain. Pain with me is the soil where joy takes root. Without me, suffering is just suffering. With me, it becomes the doorway to something greater.

Me: And what if I can’t believe that?

Jesus: Then walk with me until you can.

Me: Why? How can I trust you? I don’t even know you.

Jesus: Then know me. Seek me. My word is with you, and it is alive.

Me: How do I know that it’s real? That you are real?

Jesus: Even now, your heart is stirring. Even now, you wonder. But you are waiting for proof when it’s proof that waits for you. Would you expect a child to grasp the mind of a scholar? Then why assume human logic could contain the reasoning of an infinite God? You do not have to understand me fully to trust me completely.

Me: But I want my life. I want control. I want to do things my way, to have what I want, when I want. I want to feel good, to be free, to not have to question everything. But… I'm so tired. Something has to change.

Jesus: You hold so tightly to what you cannot keep, afraid to lose what has already been slipping through your fingers. But what if surrender isn’t loss at all? What if it’s where life begins? If you seek me and find I am not who I say, then walk away. But if you seek me and find that I am, will you still?

Me: But what if you are who you say? What if I’ve been running from the only thing that could ever make me whole?

Jesus: Then stop waiting. Stop hesitating at the door when I’ve already opened it for you.

Me: I'm scared. What if I can't do it? What if I let go, and there's nothing there to catch me? What if I walk through that door and everything I know crumbles? What if I surrender and lose myself?

Jesus: Then you will finally find yourself. You were never meant to carry all of this alone. I will not snuff out a flickering wick. I will not break a bruised reed. I do not promise that the road will be easy. I promise that I will walk it with you. I have always been here, even when you couldn’t see me. You don’t have to understand everything to take the first step.

Me: But I don’t know the way.

Jesus: Then let me lead you.

Me: What if I’m not strong enough?

Jesus: Then lean on me.

Me: What if I still have doubts?

Jesus: Then bring them with you.

Me: …

Jesus: Come and see.

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