The Fallen

By Cliff Lake

 

The Fallen

 

Fallen.

Fallen from grace:

Courtesy is reserved,

For the like-minded,

Or not at all.

Worship is carried,

From the altar,

In the holster,

Or in the bed of a pickup,

Or in fevered rhetoric,

But not in the heart.

Fallen.

Fallen behind:

Educated in opinion,

Learning of the unlearned,

Conspiring to conspire,

Fracturing fact,

To elevate a beast,

Stumbling after the brute,

Never catching anything,

But base disease,

And what crumbs are left.

Fallen.

Fallen down:

Into the nearest rabbit warren,

Flailing in deepening darkness,

Claiming to see all,

While the smoke thickens,

And the mirrors reflect,

Their own terror,

At having lost all bearing,

And what compass is given,

Only points ever downward.

Fallen.

Fallen into despair:

Faithlessly fading

From forthrightness,

Fearing their fates,

They follow fraud,

Focused on fatality,

Forsaking faith,

Fleeing freedom.

They have fallen for the con,

Fallen for the faulted,

Fallen for fabrication,

They have fallen away.

They have fallen into fear and darkness,

What they fear most –

Is being caught.

 

Cliff Lake 3/1/2024

Copyright © Clifford Lake 2024

Location: Washington, DC, USA

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