Stumbling Ugly

By Cliff Lake

 

Stumbling Ugly

 

Gasping, grasping,

Drunk on power it no longer has,

It flails and curses those it reviled,

Loyal only to its own lurid appetites.

 

Failures, flounders,

Tactics fall,

What ghostly laughter follows it now?

Petty mirth from inside the camp.

 

Screams, squeals,

Accusations of treachery,

Taught too well, too long,

Now actioned in counterplay.

 

Plotting, planning,

Projecting parts it played,

It rails against the justice seeking,

Unwilling to fathom the price that must be paid.

 

Defend, destroy,

These only it accepts,

No recompense made,

No apology it proffers.

 

Slinking, sulking,

Still, it claims victory,

Even through dwindling asset,

Even from failed quest.

 

Cohorts, companions,

Compelled to admit conspiracy,

One by one they quit him,

Forced to abandon the illegitimate sovereign.

 

Canvass, crusade,

It profits less,

A cash cow milked too hard,

Bitterest dregs remaining.

 

Remaindered, rebuffed,

It will not even command pity,

Bridges fired as they were built,

It stands with the filth it gathered.

 

Inept, in shame,

It will rot into the pit it dug,

A hole too deep, too greasy to escape,

And its lies will fall in to bury it fully.

 

The End.

 

Cliff Lake 12/14/2022

Copyright © Clifford Lake 2022

 

Location: 1100 S Ocean Blvd, Palm Beach, FL 33480, USA

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