New Faces and Old Fiends

By Cliff Lake

 

New Faces and Old Fiends

 

Ancient tales confess knowledge of hulking beasts,

Of unnatural beings that walked this world,

Giants and ogres,

Behemoths of violent inclination,

Savage worms breathing destruction,

The incubus,

The succubus,

Archfiends gathering souls,

Or tricksters craving malicious outcome.

 

What monsters have we now?

 

Infernal in deed,

Ascending high places,

Sullying hallowed space,

Gorging on the innocent,

Ravaging the earth,

Despoiling populations,

Desecrating every habitat.

Like to man in appearance and habit,

They are monsters just the same.

 

They feed on the dreams of the desperate,

But find the nightmare much more sweet,

So, in secret conclave,

They create the conditions required

For horrors in everyday life.

They smile in the face of starvation,

They dance while bombs fall,

They celebrate their savvy safety,

While drunk on the tears of survivors.

 

They glorify the gold they have stolen,

Riches they no longer need augment,

Yet still gather beyond reckoning,

Pleasured by the knowledge

That they hold

What they do not allow others to have.

They consecrate their own existence

By affixing their sign broadly before all

To remind the masses of the acclaim of themselves

Lest any forget.

 

They revel in the obeisance

Of those they consider low,

Upon whose backs they tread,

Behind whose bodies they are shielded,

Giving little back

But air warmed by forking tongues.

Their substance is empty:

Fat cells and plastic additive,

Enhanced by all the right chemicals,

And painted over in lurid color

Hastily applied.

 

Hear them roar the constant complaint:

Vacuous and self-serving inquiry that asks

Why they are not venerated

For the mere fact of their existence.

Thus they must co-opt the news cycle,

Salivating as they see themselves

Making mouth noises as empty as their eyes,

Meaningless gestures and oratory,

Meant to placate a populace

They have no use for beyond service.

 

Their appetites are beastly:

Consumptive and corrupt,

Perversions they decry in public,

But have perfected in practice,

Privy only to peers

Found passing the odious muster.

Their fears of consequence are twofold:

That they may be found out,

Or that the supply fails before they are satiated –

And they are never satiated.

 

They name themselves giants,

They perform as ghouls.

They claim they are sanctified,

Their lusts are blackened as coal.

They assert they have God’s grace,

They give only hellish return.

 

Our oldest tales relate unnatural beings walked,

Beasts and tricksters,

Giants and hell-serpents that came among us.

Archfiends easily known…

 

What monsters have we now?

 

They are in the high places,

They appear to be like to us…

They are monsters just the same.

 

Cliff Lake 2/5/2026

Copyright © Clifford Lake 2026

Location: Washington, DC, USA

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