The Reckoning

 The Reckoning

 

You want to punish them

For wanting to punish you

For not getting away with your crimes.

But not everyone was involved

And some are hanging onto

Values you once represented

Long ago voiced

By champions who died in their defense.

But now are tongues divided

Unchorused and atonal

A payment for choosing too many

Of the worst set out for offer.

Loyalties to clans

Or to causes born of rottenness

Stains of known offenses

Marking a brood of infamy

Desperate to remain uncalled

To prosecutor’s review.

These are the fruits

Of an ugly seeding

A harvest of callous regard

Of norms and propriety.

Now would you corral

The hyenas you set loose

Thinking you had a ringmaster

With a ready whip hand.

You bought this nightmare

With what integrity you may have had

You laid it down

In favor of a fever and a fog

You thought to perpetrate

On a nation that is waking up

Just in time.

The fractures and the friction

You are attempting to mend

Were put there knowingly

Willingly

And kept alive

By your own words and deeds.

And I bet you don’t even know it.

 

Cliff Lake 1/4/2023

Copyright © Clifford Lake 2023