A Promise

By Cliff Lake

 

A Promise

 

What is the urgency?

What great fears have you?

The internment camps have yet to be built,

And you’re probably safe.

Probably.

Have you signed your loyalty pledge?

Not been asked yet?

No problem,

The order will come soon.

 

Why so anxious?

The Great Deportation has not begun.

Not yet.

But just in case,

Keep your registration number handy.

 

Has your healthcare vanished?

Or your Social Security sun-setted?

Never fear!

All that is still in the planning stages.

 

Have any voter rolls been purged?

Well, maybe some…

But you still have a couple of weeks left, right?

Right?

 

And let’s talk about whose taxes will rise,

And whose won’t.

Listen, concepts are being planned,

Don’t you fret.

 

Worried about those immigrants getting your free

(socialist) benefits? Why, by some accounts,

They can feed themselves – and do,

Know what I mean?

 

And what about black and brown people getting jobbed?

I mean JOBS, getting jobs or whatever,

There’s that…

And women’s rights, huh?

Hey, if they don’t have any rights,

That’s less to worry about, you know?

 

Income inequality?

Let’s be honest:

If everyone were equal,

You might not have the chance

To feel like you’re better than someone else, so…

 

And that Ukraine stuff?

If Putin has his way,

He might move against others in Europe,

But that’s their problem, am I right?

We have enough trouble here,

And if we run out,

We know how to create more so easily, dig?

 

So why be an enemy of the state?

Stay at home,

Keep your trap shut,

And maybe you won’t be bothered,

As we find new ways to redefine the term…

 

So what’s to worry?

Almost all of this can be seen

As someone else’s problem, not yours.

Not yet.

And that’s a promise…

 

Cliff Lake 10/18/2024

Copyright © Clifford Lake 2024

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

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

One Thousand Horsemen

By Cliff Lake
  One Thousand Horsemen   The call of an ally, A friend of old: “We ask your aid! Will you be bold?”   “Ancient terrors, Assail once more! Will you honor The oaths we swore?”   One thousand horsemen answer the call,   One thousand horsemen riding tall. One thousand horsemen, they prepare. One thousand horsemen, forth they fare.   “We have no word, Are we not heard? Are we forgot? Do you come not?”   “The terror hails, Our people quail! We are beset, Will you come yet?”   One thousand horsemen upon the hill, One thousand horsemen, duty they fill. One thousand horsemen make the climb. One thousand horsemen, are they in time?   “What do we hear? Is succor near? Have you arrived? Will we survive?”   “Hail faithful friend! Fear not an end! Our hope has come, Sound the war drum!”   One thousand horsemen, banners raised! One thousand horsemen, unafraid! One thousand horsemen, charging in! One thousand ho
Read more

The Edge

By Cliff Lake
  The Edge   Out on the edge… This is where we exist, A precipice, A future unseen and unknowable, An edge we constantly walk. Here on the edge, We step forward blindly, Though we tell ourselves That we have planned well, But the future, Has no regard, For the mere mortal. Walking the edge, We may not see, What falls lie before us, What chasms may claim us, Nor how deeply they lurk. But know this: We have the strength, To climb out of darkness, If we but dare the edge again. Fear not brother! You are your own savior, If you but make the merest try. Do not despair sister! The unlooked-for hand, Will reach for you yet! Remember: From the bottom, The only way is up. Forward is the only motion, Time is allowed, In this frame we inhabit. It is the step to the side, That carries you down, Out here on the edge…   Straight ahead then - The path is before you.   Cliff Lake 2/24/2024 Copyright © Clifford Lake 2
Read more

Used Up 'n Dried Up

By Cliff Lake
  Used Up ‘n Dried Up   You scurried away from your ancestral home, Let’s face it boy, you’re out there on loan. Your markers cashed in, no more favors to call, Winds of change blowing cold, house of cards to fall. Livin’ in a hotel, bumming dollars from the poor, Sellin’ your Chinese trinkets, maybe try it door to door. Your hands in everyone’s pockets, no more spare change for you, Keep on beggin’ at the dockets, that is what’s left to do.   “You’re on your own, kid.” That’s what they said. “You’re used up ‘n dried up; you’re bled.” “You’re out on the street, you’ve used up your cred.” “You’re on your own, kid.” That’s what I said.   Oh, how you fell hard for that dictator, A long-time, well-known master baiter. He always had you pegged as some petty clown, Just look at how he has jerked you around.   “You’re on your own, kid.” That’s what he said. “You’re used up ‘n dried up; you’re bled.” “Look at this crooked path that I led.” “You’re on
Read more