Readiness

By Cliff Lake

 

Readiness

 

A poisoned flower presented:

Rough sustenance leaves us wanting,

And empathy dies,

Drowned in rhetoric.

 

Pretty phrases gone sour,

Understanding twisted to control,

Shepherding abandoned for gold,

The mask slips,

And the monster’s smiles

Are full of teeth.

 

They have yet to be hit hard enough

To turn to desperation,

They are too busy biting

To notice how clearly they are seen.

Yet once they heed the turbulence

They themselves have created beneath them,

They will attempt the mortal strike.

 

Are you ready?

They will use the club,

Indiscriminate and unwieldy,

They will use the unaimed bullet,

Claiming victory no matter where it strikes,

They will use the thug,

Brutes thirsty for violence,

Uncaring against whom.

 

They will use fear,

Reprisal,

Retaliation,

And revenge,

And you are their enemy and

I am their enemy and

We are their enemy.

 

Are you ready?

Because they gather their strength…

Heedless of our number,

Or simply so full of hubris,

That they do not deign to count.

Are you ready?

 

Cliff Lake 1/30/2025

Copyright © Clifford Lake 2025

Location: Washington, DC, USA

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