RED JOHN

      Who is this warped, invidious nemesis
      if not an incarnation of the Devil,
      whose foremost target is a mentalist
      devoted to the rooting out of evil?

      Red John has found in Patrick Jane a match
      that’s made in Hell, for torment is his aim,
      and every move he makes is bent to snatch
      Jane’s soul, the goal of this malicious game.

      We root, of course, for Patrick to prevail,
      hoping he has the moxie to outsmart
      this monster, knowing at last he will not fail
      because we trust the writer knows his art:

           Like God, he will somehow contrive to end
           all happily—on that we may depend.

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