Testimonial

By Cliff Lake


Testimonial

 

The tension,

Ratchet up the tension.

How else will you justify the thugs?

The training,

Don’t bother with much training.

How else will they remain the thugs?

What brutish tactics!

What short sight…

 

Starvation,

Inflation,

Frustration,

Predation.

The tools of the tyrant,

The clumsy hands that wield.

 

Constraint,

Restraint,

Complaint,

Repaint.

The pettiness of the bullying,

The insubstantial yield.

 

Suppression,

Oppression,

Recession,

Depression.

The duress forced by insecurity,

The results in the ledger concealed.

 

What use is history

To those that refuse to read?

Pressures applied

Always require

Eventual release.

The fires you start today,

Set the boil of tomorrow,

That you think you can contain.

This is a pot

Larger than your ego.

 

You begin to burn your own,

Thinking your lies

Will outweigh their empty wallets,

That your words

Are more substantial

Than their bare pantries,

That their loyalty

Will drown out the growls

Of their unfilled stomachs –

You who have never known true hunger.

The belly is the great motivator.

 

Your monuments to yourself

Block a clear line of sight.

Your purchases of praise

Disattend the warnings spoken.

The glitter and the gild

Conceal what was writ on the walls.

Reality is a harsh mistress,

And repays double when ignored.

 

Your legacy will be that dark stain bleeding always.

Another example of what should not have been,

Your name spoken with the curse,

Your image forever marred,

Your tributes trashed,

You will be a testament to ugliness and disgrace,

And thus, because of that,

You will not be forgotten.

And isn’t that what you wanted anyway?

Isn’t it?

 

Cliff Lake 11/2/2025

Copyright © Clifford Lake 2025

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