Marathon

By Cliff Lake

 

Marathon

 

Murder on the mainland,

Death in the high seas,

Desperate distractions,

Expect more of these.

Officials in the hot seat,

See them fail the test.

Shifting blame elsewhere,

Doing what they do best.

 

They carry on with their carrying on,

And I can’t get no rest.

We’re in some kind of marathon,

For god’s sake,

Let me catch my breath!

 

Hey there Mr. Money Man,

What did you diddly do?

Babies on the island,

I’m looking in the Who’s Who.

I hear what the survivors say,

You don’t come away so clean…

Maybe you didn’t, but maybe you did,

And maybe it’s Maybelline.

 

They want us to just move along,

Give the thing a rest.

It’s like some kind of marathon,

And I can’t catch my breath.

 

No more nights in dirty town,

No more getting your dirty on.

Maybe you need to go to ground,

What goes around comes around.

No more attempted land-nabber,

No more unasked-for crotch-grabber.

No more blundering surprise,

No more grift and no more lies.

 

You can only run so long,

And we won’t let you rest.

You can’t outlast the marathon,

Try to catch your breath…

 

What is making them afraid?

How far off course have they strayed?

What kind of messes have they made?

Why is it they’re so afraid?

 

They want us to just move along,

Give the thing a rest.

It’s like some kind of marathon,

And I can’t catch my breath.

 

Will they find that it was worth it?

They try so hard to disperse it.

How much more grim when we unearth it?

Will they find that it was worth it?

 

They carry on with their carrying on,

And I can’t get no rest.

We’re in some kind of marathon,

For god’s sake,

Let me catch my breath!

 

Cliff Lake 2/11/2026

Copyright © Clifford Lake 2026

Location: Washington, DC, USA

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