CliffSongs

    The Time of We   And they think we have lost the cause, And they think they can shred the laws, And they think they hold all the keys, And they think they can hold we.   And they think we won’t march on the towers, And they think we won’t march on the powers, And they think we are little more than debris, And they think they can ignore we.   And the time has come around again, And we must take down the crown again. And it’s time again that they must see, There is nothing so mighty as we.   And they think we do not count the cost, And they think that we have already lost, And they think that we do not see, And they never counted on we.   And the time has come around again, And we must take down the crown again. And it’s time again that they must see, There is nothing so mighty as we.   And they don’t think we’ll march again, And they don’t think we’ll march on them. And they don’t think ...

  Backroom Love Affair   Here is the story of you sycophant kooks: It would be funny, except for the nukes. Comic book villains, who voted for them? We want no part of your inane mayhem   Threats to the left and threats to the right, Pretense and nonsense, then back from a fight. Soft fattened mice pretending to roar, But the tigers are prowling and they’re keeping score.   Over and over and underperform, None of this stuff comes near to a norm. Stupid or blind or basically lazy, Why are you caving to and serving crazy?   Overindulged and unqualified, Lay out a million bucks and you’re inside. No matter that your resume is inflated, There is love for the uneducated.   No more fear of making any retraction, You are an integral part of a bigger distraction. You have no qualms as you watch the rapine, Deny, deny, deny, and you’ll get away clean.   Over and over and underperform, None of this stuff co...

  Living Past   The shaded past lurks because, Telling tales of never was, Slicing through me with silken claws, The shaded past lurks because.   A past only partly lived, Memory filtered through a faulted sieve. Scars sheared by a shielding shiv, Sins accomplished, who can forgive?   The shaded past lurks because, Telling tales of never was, Slicing through me with silken claws, The shaded past lurks because.   Remembrance a muddled palette, Fading faces, forgotten debt. Still ascend from the depths yet, Do we ever truly forget?   The shaded past lurks because, Telling tales of never was, Slicing through me with silken claws, The shaded past lurks because. Recollection clenching my jaw, Uncertainty in what I saw. Murky depths too like a maw, How long will memory gnaw?   The shaded past lurks because, Telling tales of never was, Slicing through me with silken claws, The shaded past lur...

  Tides and Tithe   What value has valuation? None, I think. Do you value gems? Do you value gold? Do you value numbers on a screen? Value is arbitrary. Value is momentary. Value is circumstantial. Attend: Salt has been valued equally to gold. Aluminum has been valued more than gold. Silver was valued above gold. See the man! He has been locked away more than this week. He has been given only water. He is offered a pound of gold in imprisonment, Patterned as he cherishes. He is offered a pound of steak in imprisonment, Prepared as he likes. Which will he choose? Starvation is the great motivator. At times I have been reduced to the essentials: Food, clothing, shelter. It may happen again. Maybe I will survive it. Maybe I won’t. Neither matters because Eventually I will not survive – Not at all. Of what value will my small luxuries be then? To me… Nothing. Therefore, what value have they now? None of them are...

  Technical Foul   How did the signal go awry? Point the finger at the other guy! Responsibility need not apply, If confusion you amplify.   Investigators on the prowl. Newspapers begin to howl. Don’t give in, throw in the towel, It was just a technical foul.   Never mind why the wisemen scowl, Keep shoveling shit with a bear-sized trowel, Feel the tightening grip in your bowel, While you commit to your technical foul.   Don’t worry, your job is fine, Just say it was all by design. Or that there are new guidelines, Or you were hacked by him sometime.   It’s all less than what it seems: Who knows what F-18 means? Let them bitch and moan and growl, Simply a technical foul.   Never mind why the wisemen scowl, Keep shoveling shit with a bear-sized trowel, Feel the tightening grip in your bowel, While you commit to your technical foul.   Cliff Lake 3/27/2025 Copyright © Clifford Lake 202...

  Found and Lost   There is a place, not entirely earthbound, Where the energy alive surrounds, Even in the darkness found, Where even the lowly are crowned.   There is a night, full of some earthly light, Where evil will dare not blight. Where you may escape plunder and plight, Where even the smallest wield might.   And I lived under the deepest dream, In a world of shimmering sheen, Maybe somewhere in between, Somewhere more than daydream, I saw it long ago… Return me to where I have been.   There was a day, when it was never gray, When I rolled a century away, Where one slept guarded by moonray, With a word no more cares to weigh.   I was pulled away by the human race, A lifetime I can almost embrace. Why abandon such grace? I can find my way back if I but see a trace.   And I lived under the deepest dream, In a world of shimmering sheen, Maybe somewhere in between, Somewhere more than ...

  Tuesday, In the Year of the Plague   Adrift I am in information, Canard concocted without cessation. Am I drowning in misconception, Or in the more turbulent deception.   The ship careens: I am thrown. The lies are paid, the truth on loan. And how to brave the cruel cyclone, How far away is certainty blown?   Fact buried beneath the wave, How many left that we must save? Sharks in the water, legitimacy bleeds, Know they will give no quarter, what of our needs?   How do we with the storm contend, What reality are we to suspend? Acidic lies rain without end, Beneath these waters will we descend?   Honesty’s lifeboat under duress, How do we paddle out of this mess? Can the ship be righted out of distress? Who will answer the SOS?   Abandoned we are in heavy seas, Afloat and unmoored in oily sleaze, Tossed by storm more like disease, Gods swept away we might appease.   Off course, backs...

  Confusioneers   For goodness sake, state secret mistake, How many blunders does it take? Think you’re gonna put them to the screw? They got a little shimmy-shake for you.   Think you caught them by the shorters, The idiot policies, conflicting orders. Watch them squirm out in front of their peers: The Dance of the Confusioneers.   The white lie here, Hey look over there! You know they screwed up, But now you don’t know where. Just know they’ll ramp up all your fears, The slippery Dance of the Confusioneers.   Panama, Canada, and Greenland, What’s with all of this threatening freewheelin’? I got my suspicions someone’s double-dealin’, They ain’t savin’ shit; they’re just stealin’.   Pander grander, sneak out some slander, Get everyone lost as your words meander. Create some smoke with a bunch of smears, Strike up the band for the Confusioneers.   The deflection here, Who is that there! You ...

  Mixed Signal   Open the information stream, It is as bad as what it seems. It looks like this crop’s been creamed, Signals sent on widest beam.   Drink to a pretended war, Take your shot and then one more. Signal the upcoming score, Discuss it all through an open door.   Appreciate the signal spread. Approximate within the thread. Apprehension, fear, and dread, Apply liberally to the head.   Drinks all around! Be of good cheer! The signal’s long and loud and clear! Nothing to lose! Nothing to fear, This side of the Atlantic’s clear!   Drink up men, it’s said and done. Drink up while the tale is spun. The signal went; it’s all good fun, Drink up before we’re overrun!   The signal sent so good and strong, Signal sent where it don’t belong. Signal sent and it’s so wrong, Signal got you in this song.   Signals beaming through the night, Signals beamed before the fight. Signal sent a...

  Low Thing   Clumsy betrayals, Blunt blades bludgeoning, Dull pronouncements shred, A disease chosen to salve defect: The cancer ruptures and spreads. Brutalize petty grievance, Take offence at whispers, Penalize the broken. Redemption cannot be had, But it can be pretended. Mispronounce the lie, Reapply the misstep, Unappreciate the fallen, Present all corroded truth, A charade harvesting gold sustains. So few, so few, Allowed by reason of empty belly, Made powerful through inaction, Overestimated - yet still flesh rotted, Can it consume itself? Degraded testimonies, Disturbed distributions, Defaced Declaration, Displayed debaucheries, Delighted despots. Electronic ascension manifested. Enumerated empires enacted. The controls removed from the operators: Drones in service to treasuries; The cost of calculating the cost. So few, so few, Iron fists in soiled gloves, Maintained in bewilderments. The lowest ha...

  Desserts   Robber baron, liar, fiend, Destruction path smiling careens. Adderall or ketamine, Twisty promise from these are gleaned.   Drug-addled and ego-bound, Self-proclamation gains the crown. Grab it all and run aground, Scuttle the ship and let us drown.   It’s going wrong and getting worse, Time to empty the bloated purse. Hit them where most it hurts, They are earned these just desserts.   Sycophants and worshippers, Unimmune from forfeiture. Gardener and carpenter, Shield yourself from extortioner.   Close the doors, go to ground, No more interest to compound. Barter, trade, that will confound, If it’s gone, it can’t be found.   It’s going wrong and getting worse, Time to empty the bloated purse. Hit them where most it hurts, They are earned these just desserts.   Cheater, coward, scoundrel, thief, They would have you suspend belief. Undermining without relief, Instal...

  Letter to a Red Hat   Complaining that you are the small guy. That you have been made to crawl by. That you have been made to stall dry. Congratulations, you are the fall guy.   Gathered together in sweaty throng, Making you believe that you belong. Look at you find out you’re wrong, Look at you find your way into this song.   They turn their backs and walk away. Baring the fang at the weakest prey. I want to know what’s the takeaway? Welcome to the new squeeze play.   When did it go inside out? When did you begin to doubt? When will you begin to shout? You think you’re getting a bailout?   They turn their backs and walk away. Baring the fang at the weakest prey. I want to know what’s the takeaway? Welcome to the new squeeze play. Things you’re needing that they crash, Things you believe in that they trash. You made a choice that was much too rash, You made the choice, they get the cash.   ...

  Charge   A task, a duty, A call and service, The onus hefted ponderous, And choices absent. Plodding progress, Hindered results, Finality still lies ahead. He did not petition this, Though it was required of him; No other dared stand in, Soft and pampered as they were, He was already tempered in life. Hard challenge and paltry advance meet, His resolve hardens to granite, He can no longer be swayed. Offer gold! Present silver or better, The silken thigh… He has not turned aside, Even death he has denied. What loyalty compels this stout? Only this: He has given his word: The coin he will not trade, The currency beyond his barter, He is bonded to himself. Can you ask more? He has no better to give than that. And in the asking, You will receive less. He is committed to the charge, He is consigned to this chore, He is submit to this test, He will fulfill. Stand aside, He does not stop, Until the end. ...

  Momentous   Moments get precious these days. A smile, A sound, A whisper, A frown. Any may carry the weight of your waking, Any may weigh heavier in sleep. What will you carry to your pillow?   Moments are precious these days. A word, A silence, A laugh, A sigh. Any may carry weight in your walking. Any may bear weight on others. What care do you embody?   Moments neglected these days: Civility, Kindness, Courtesy, Care. These once had weight, Now they are too weighty for some. Where are they in the balance?   Moments too precious these days: Skies, Scruples, Sacrifice, Silence. These have weight in the memory, Though not all weigh you down. How light do you step?   Do you carry your weight? Or are you weighed down? Do not let your head hit the pillow too heavy, Not all weights are yours to carry, And not all you carry need be a weight.   Moments get precious these ...

  A Song Inside   The dreams have come around again, A story played that might have been. Or history buried and lost, Taken from us at too great a cost.   The ancient tales course in my veins, Singing myth in sweet refrain. Sagas alive beneath the skin, Memory gifted and bred within.   Tales when earth was more alive, Tales that in my bones survive. Accounts of when life we shared, With beasts on land and in the air.   Tales of when we knew their speech, And heard the lessons they would teach. When we did revere the trees, When we knew our spirits ease.   The legends sizzle in my bones, When Earth was more than just a home, When she was both mother and sister, When we did not pillage and twist her.   But all of this is more than dream, The narrative burns through all my being. Voices of the past night and morning, With an insistence that feels like warning.   So, I come and of these m...

  Lesson of the Lazy Day   What’s that I smell on the air? The crocus blooms and gets on with life. See that rabbit over there? He is unconcerned with war and strife. Not for him complicity, Sunny skies and fresh grass are enough, I long for days of simplicity, I’ve had my fill of the other stuff. I see the birds soar in the air, It is they that are the truly free. Feeding and nesting are their care, Would that we had their sensibility. At dusk the fox goes passing by, He gives no more than a passing glance. Another creature beneath the sky, Unencumbered by man’s penchants. The possum is not behind in rent, The geese do not ever clock in. Trees give shade without recompense, What insanity are we locked in? Is it not enough to watch the clouds, And listen to the grass grow? Why do we hustle along in crowds? Why can’t we just let life flow? See the lazy circles of the hawk, Watch the cows as they contemplate. Are they consc...

  Timewhine   Locks and clocks unwound with a rusted key, A life stripped of sensibility, Hours and minutes strewn in debris, The timeline slipped from reality.   Madnesses in place of what might be, Waking to incomprehensibility. Shifting seconds foul infinity, Inside the mirage no guarantee.   Fading in and out of time, Dreams and visions not wholly mine. Scenes and schemes to which I am driven, Tapestries and fragments to live in.   Navigating firmament fantasy, Spending moments in eternity. Mapping illusion continuously, Temporal dissolution starts at three.   Fading in and out of time, Dreams and visions not wholly mine. Scenes and schemes to which I am driven, Tapestries and fragments to live in.   Life and time carved from uncertainty, No trust remains in authenticity. Where in time is actuality? Make sense of our present’s invalidity.   Fading in and out of time, Dreams and ...

  Lifesong   We sang under starlight long ago, Sang trees to green, and breezes blow. We sang health into our earth, We sang of life and of rebirth.   But some would sing of iron and fire, Finding glory in man-made pyre. Then light faded, or became a glare, A darklight burning soiled air.   Sing into the west, sing to the east, Sing for the trees, sing for the beasts! Sing it to the south, sing to the north, Sing and bring creation forth! We are the singers, we are the song, We can sing the light again if we are strong!   The world into a darkness fell, Result of the broken spell. Our earth will remain this way, Until we find words from yesterday.   Take heart children, be it night or day, For those willing, there is a way. For those who listen, it comes at last: The song still whispers in the grass.   Sing into the west, sing to the east, Sing for the trees, sing for the beasts! Sing it to ...

  Stormcall   Thunderheads breach the horizon, Lightning stabs giving warning. Hear the winds in their uprising, The storm is at the door by morning.   The blundering is all crash and clank, The plundering, who makes bank? Feebly fronting before us all, Forecasting their practiced fall.   A tightened grip forged from steal, You signed the papers; this is the deal. The time is past for feigned surprise, The weather’s bad, the gales will rise.   Thunderheads breach the horizon, Lightning stabs giving warning. Hear the winds in their uprising, The storm is at the door by morning.   Gathering the fringed supporters: Marching minions awaiting orders. Whipping them to breaking strain, Come what may, they will bring pain.   Claiming witness, judge and jury, Saving the forces for the fury. Every day a new perform, Thinking they’ll outlast the storm.   Thunderheads breach the horizon, Lightn...

  Deniability Plan   The appearance of truth, That is the thing. Let us accept plausibility, As the facts may bear our fingerprints… What story would you hear? Who would you have blameless? A few buttons pushed… A few egos stoked… Heroes created from mere air. Or is it demons that you seek? Phantoms begot to attach your hurts to, Injuries perhaps also taken from the imagination, Still, real enough to be spoken of, yes? Sly victims… The willing misled. Will you call foul when the light shines clear? Will you admit your mistake? Will you admit it was no mistake at all? Will you cower yet behind convoluted conspiracy? Or will it be enough To point to the single source You would not abandon? Are you satisfied today With the appearance of truth? Are you so tied to dogma? Are you so bound to unexamined doctrine? Or is it simply less burdensome To accept The appearance of truth? Things are sometimes as they appear… Maybe...

  Adrift   The mornings that faded to their noon, Nights unwound without a moon. Living like I were immune, Memories too casually strewn.   I know I should get in gear, But where I’ll get to remains unclear. And I continue to ride this sphere, Not really knowing how I got here.   And the days that flew by too fast, And the nights that didn’t ever last, And I find that time isn’t so vast, And here I am, and I never asked.   So much has passed I did not intend. So many twists I cannot unbend. So much time that was misspent. Still, I seem so far from an end.   Sitting here, everywhere to go. Full of the knowledge of I don’t know. What will the dice on the next throw? What strange wind will next blow?   And the days that flew by too fast, And the nights that didn’t ever last, And I find that time isn’t so vast, And here I am, and I never asked.   Cliff Lake 3/12/2025 Copyright © Cliffor...

  Stalwart   “Yakitty yak.” they blather at you. Yakitty yak is the best they can do. They talk and finagle and spew, But you’re still in the trenches when they are through.   Is their truth between the lies? Is it greed that squints their eyes? Is it merely a win they prize? What brute lurks beneath the smiling guise?   Will you be forced against the wall? With no support to prevent the fall? Will you be pierced beneath the screw? The first one you count on is you.   At your abilities they will hew, And do anything to alter your view, And remove any fact you thought you knew, To keep their hands unsoiled while they do the dirty to you.   With their plan will you align? What steals through their design? Have you fallen for the line? Have you read the small print before you sign?   Will you be forced against the wall? With no support to prevent the fall? Will you be pierced beneath the screw? T...

  Voices of Then   Wood and stone, and blood and bone, We do not walk this earth alone. Ancient voices speak from the trees, Or murmur in the deepest seas. On the winded mountains tall, Do you not hear them at all? Telling of the world when young, Of the romance between moon and sun, How they chase and are never done. Of the ease of new children, Who took to themselves power then. Of the glitter of gold that made them blind, Turned them cold, made them unkind. Listen to the hollow wind sad! Listen as it tells of men gone mad: How they turned on creatures once named brother How they came to believe there is the other. Do you hear the land groan underfoot? Are you so captivated by your output, That these voices you will not hear, That you cover your eyes, stop up your ear? Bone and blood and stone and wood, I would speak the ancient tongues if I could, And teach you to sing with the trees, To learn of far lands from the breeze....

Heartweight   The heavy heart, Its weight so burdened, Graying the day, Graying a life.   The crowded mind, Listening hard loudly hears, It speaks louder, Weighting the heart.   The deafened ears, Choosing their noise, Filtering day, fearing night, They crowd the mind.   The staring eyes, Seeing forward, Unbelieving the action, Deferring to ears.   The suffering soul, Intuiting more, Overshouted by eyes and ears and mind, It speaks to the heart.   The heavy heart, Its weight so burdened, Graying the day, Graying a life.   The suffering soul, Intuiting more, Overshouted by eyes and ears and mind, It speaks to the heart.   The heavy heart, Its weight so burdened, Graying the day, Graying a life.   Cliff Lake 3/7/2025 Copyright © Clifford Lake 2025

  Bubble Bro   Wrapped in his bubble, His outlook colored, Diffracted and smeared, The fragile filters occluding, But smelling clean enough to be tolerated, Maintaining their oily coruscations.   Warped in his bubble, Unaware of externals, An ego self-maintained, Subject to easy injury, One only needs a fact To prick the shell.   Wasted in his bubble, Sucking the oxygen from the room, He trumpets his disdain Of the troubles of others, And tells how their harms Affect his bottom line.   Wandering in his bubble, He sees only so far, A view restricted by comfort, A perspective painted in pennies, Would outward reach shatter The self-imposed blister? Wrapped in his bubble, He feels shielded from scrutiny, If he does not see out, Who may see in? But really… Who wishes to peer beneath so thin a skin?   Cliff Lake 3/4/2025 Copyright © Clifford Lake 2025

  This Time   Who is that everywhere, Some hopped-up billionaire, It’s overwhelming and mind-numbing. Who’s pushing you down, Some krazy ketamine klown, Did you Nazi this coming?   Do we watch this man break it, Do we stand here and take it, Are we to allow all this slaughter? We are better than this, Tell them cease and desist, Make them bend to the law like they oughta.   In for a penny, in for a pound, When do we stand up And stand our ground? In for a pound, in for a penny, The time is now, This time is as good as any.   Some interfering jerk, Pretending he’s doing work, But he’s really just juggling axes. This mumbling cretin, We know what he’s gettin’: Contracts and a break on his taxes.   He wasn’t elected, Let’s see him rejected, Send him back to where he came from. He props up a clown, Let’s take him down, Send him home without a crumb.   In for a penny, in for a pound, ...

  He Said   The silence he spoke, A commentary in omission, And the turned back. He does not leave, The point is driven more deep In rigid remain. An iron refusal he has become, A negation, Featureless now, He is a silhouette in the flesh, And just as mute. The steel of his shoulders Brooks nor accepts no appeal, Yet here he stands, Resolute as rock, And as approachable. Remaining is his comment, One of you has ceased to exist, And he has made the choice. Your petition goes unheard, Should you have dared, But the set and square of this form Allows for no attempt, One may as well plead a wall To become a door. Yet it is none of this that snares the tongue, no… It is the knowledge of the betrayal, Of your betrayal, Of disassociating yourself from trust, A trust that was once complete and unsullied, Cast away for selfish gain, Not a mistake, Once repeated, A mistake becomes the pattern, And the pattern was se...

  Allegory   The allegory flew over the bleak land, Crying its message. The stink of failed promise, Of betrayal and petty puffery assailed it, But it carried the agenda, And remained unaffected. For it was born of need, It was the vehicle, And in mockery and exaggeration, It told the tale and the truth, And would not be shot from its height By the ignorant and the unlearned. The allegory spoke against greed and And the clowning hammer wielded, And though it seemed strident to some, It called to the hidden strength: A groundswell of the trod upon, Ordinaries tired of the foolish games Played on them and opposing them. Games played in high places, Using these average as pieces and prizes, Where the rules are written on the run, And then not followed at all. The allegory saw all this and spoke loud, Flying along the wires, Gliding the beams, Landing where it may, Invited or no. It told its tale through necessity, Were...