Circles

By Cliff Lake

 

Circles

 

Brightly colored robes that fade when seen,

Full feasts in an empty canteen.

Flashing entertainments gone routine,

One after the other scripted scene.

 

Overlord of the endless dune,

Walled away in a stone cocoon.

And day after day the repeated rune,

And no one to read but a silent moon.

 

And he calls upon a deity’s name

To curse a sky that will not rain,

And though he shouts from night to noon,

There is none to hear but the silent moon.

 

Monotonous days dully stark,

Hoary haze in the glaring dark.

Shifty sands the only landmark,

Repeat always the endless arc.

 

Walled away, he is marooned,

A king perhaps or some tycoon.

And he thinks of no one else to impugn,

Than the unhearing disc of the silent moon.

 

And he calls upon a deity’s name

To curse a sky that will not rain,

And though he shouts from night to noon,

There is none to hear but the silent moon.

 

Riches that he cannot spend,

Letters that remain unpenned.

Offenses he cannot amend,

Yet still he will not unbend.

 

Flashing entertainments gone routine,

One after the other scripted scene.

Shifty sands the only landmark,

Repeat always the endless arc.

 

Walled away, he is marooned,

A king perhaps or some tycoon.

And day after day the repeated rune,

And no one to read but a silent moon.

 

And he calls upon a deity’s name

To curse a sky that will not rain,

And though he shouts from night to noon,

There is none to hear but the silent moon.

 

Cliff Lake 6/20/2026

Copyright © Clifford Lake 2026

Location: Wichita, KS, USA

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