Conundrum

By Cliff Lake

 

Conundrum

 

A puzzle I set before you:

Why did this time go so astray?

Who was elevated against odds:

Crawling creatures that dark the day.

Bums and rogues and criminals,

Slopped their way up and hope to stay.

See them prancing before you,

Oblivious of their decay.

 

A conundrum some fail to see,

Too beholden to iniquity.

These uncomforting truths they must flee,

The enigma ages ungracefully.

 

The lies that put them where they are,

Their power maintained through hearsay.

See them lined up against you,

Arranged in tidy disarray.

They remain envious of

The things they cannot take away:

Love, and light, and laughter,

Saved up for a rainy day.

 

The conundrum fits too closely,

Too beholden to iniquity.

These uncomforting truths they must flee,

The enigma ages ungracefully.

 

The query is already in your mind –

It becomes clearer every day.

Is it really such a mystery,

Why it on our minds so weighs…

The question I pose is clear:

Do we suffer their macabre melee?

They slimed upward to incompetence,

What do we need them for anyway?

 

The conundrum fits too easy

They beholden to iniquity.

These uncomforting truths they must flee,

Their enigma ages ungracefully.

 

A conundrum of iniquity,

Too beholden and can’t get free.

These uncomforting truths they must flee,

The enigma ages ungracefully.

 

Cliff Lake 8/2/2025

Copyright © Clifford Lake 2025

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

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