CliffSongs

  Explainer   It’s starting to feel everyone has gone hostile, You should know we have already filed the file. You keep on requesting – it’s not like we care, Why do you insist on poking this bear?   Maybe you feel that we near the brink, We do what we do, it’s our criming kink. No more of your thinking – just go with the flow, What you once knew is not what you know.   It was there, now it’s gone, It’s time to move on. What are all these conclusions you have drawn – You act like we are pulling some con. Ask again, give it a shot Everything that is, now is not. Forget about the evidence you think you have got: Everybody here is already bought.   Go ahead, peep the curtain, there’s nobody there, Take another look – we’ve got lies and to spare. With the courts in our pocket and the cabinet too, Ask again and again, what you think you can do?   Is anything real, is this a distraction? Close your eyes while ...

  Descent and the Darkening   What is this waking you from your uneasy sleep? How long did it take this horror to creep? How were you to know what burden was in store? How much of this did you willingly ignore? Which of these acts are an exaggeration? How did they manage this horrific transformation? Did you not see this happen in your plain sight? Day never suddenly becomes the night.   But you ask, “Why has this trial come to our place?” The ordeal has again risen, Only wears a different face. But you ask, “Why me? Why here? Why now?” The scourge came upon us long ago, It is but ours to unallow.   Do not each look to blame one another, It was you each who forsook your brother. Shook your head, turned your back, chose to be blind, Do you think you will remain unassigned? The demand has come that you blindly agree, The demand has come if you wish to be free. The torment comes again to curse us all, We must united ...

  Ward   They are in the high places, And assume seats of power. See their genial faces, While demanding that you cower.   The law that they would retrofit, So self-complimentary. Only they may benefit: Their final philosophy.   Beware these times, For trickery abounds, And evil way and petty grievance Are too easily found. Beware these days, For falsity is prized, And serpents and scorpions Are found in human guise.   Barricaded behind blast doors, Their minions played as their pawns, Hands still unwashed from bloody chores, Do not say that you weren’t warned.   General populace ignored: Such inconveniences. Watch the rule of might restored: Intended consequences.   Beware these times, For trickery abounds, And evil way and petty grievance Are too easily found. Beware these days, For falsity is prized, And serpents and scorpions Are found in human guise.   You begged ...

  Stains   He needs a pulpit all his own, That he may look them in the eye. And a bigger microphone, That he may more loudly lie. He needs the camera in close, A fancy pen to sign the letter, He needs to be third grade verbose, He needs them to be forgetters.   And they start to see the things, The things that he is not. And they see the empty hands, The hands that they have got. And now he has Defrauded the frauds,   So, they begin to see The stains on their god.   He needs to sell the baubles, That his coffers do not run dry. He needs them to accept their troubles, He needs them to not ask why. He needs them to accept his promise, He promises everything, He needs them to accept his chaos, ‘Cause now chaos is king.   And now they see the things, The things that he is not. Now they see empty hands, The hands that they have got. And now he has Defrauded the frauds, Suddenly they begin to s...

  Cleaning   Lolita Express, Flight log distress, Where it has gone Is anyone’s guess. The pedo list, How can it be missed, It was never there – You get the gist.   It’s been made clear: it once was here, But look how easy to make disappear. Smutty document, to the masses present, But now it is gone, let it go malcontent.   Lolita Express, Flight log distress, Where it has gone Is anyone’s guess. The pedo list, How can it be missed, It was never there – You get the gist.   There on the desk, names named grotesque, How to get rid of such a mess. Conclusion forgone, they won’t catch on: When they ask again, it is gone!   Lolita Express, Flight log distress, Where it has gone Is anyone’s guess. The pedo list, How can it be missed, It was never there – You get the gist.   Remember that special island, We’d fly there and get high and, It was our secret style and, Why did he ...

  Letters   Dear Mr. Japan, do take this letter, So I can pretend that I am better, And increase the consumer debt or, Ride out all of this stormy weather.   Dear Mr. Korea, here is your mail, An economic coffin nail, An Oval office Independence Sale, A distraction beyond the pale.   We’re tearing it up and tearing it down, Watching it all get blown around. We are safe here in our fortified town, Close your eyes as the shit goes down.   Dear Mr. Doge, respond to this text, Step it on up, what to stomp next. You are in charge of the government wrecks, Placing the heavy boot on all of the Deep State necks.   Dear Mr. Cabinet, open the chat, Let everyone know just what we are at. Security these days has become such old hat, When the blame comes, you just fall flat.   We’re tearing it up and tearing it down, Watching it all get blown around. We are safe here in our fortified town, Just close your ...

  The Broken Promise   The broken promise: This is what we are, The broken promise. We held ourselves so high, But that was only our estimation – Now we swim with our sewage. Our systems aren’t just breaking, They are not just being degraded, They are being savaged, They are being inverted upon themselves, And perverted against us, All of us. We are the broken promise: A beacon pledged, Now stained in red, And glaring orange. A light that shines not for humanity, But that illumes our inequities, Our inadequacies, Our failure. We are the fading spark, Creating our own ash, To be blown about, By an ever more despairing wind. We are the ray that could have been, That should have been, That is no more. We are the broken promise: A voice against the din of oppression, A call to betterment, An exclamation of hope, and of fervor, A roar against madness and degradation, But we are become a screech, An expression of ...

  Served   The comfortable betrayal, The heavily feathered nest. The approval of the faithful, The lack of the people’s best. The mocking of the learned, The unconsciously averted eye, The loyalty perverted, The conscience no longer nigh.   Servant of the people, Do you serve yourself first? When all is said and done, Have you done your worst? Servant of the people, Serving up deceit, After all the spins you’ve spun, How will you keep your seat?   The conditional nay-say-all, The denials when too pressed. The need to downplay all, The needs gone unaddressed. The accusal of the watchful, The refusal to meet the eye. The obeisance to the fraudful, The allegiance to the lie.   Servant of the people, Do you serve yourself first? When all is said and done, Have you done your worst? Servant of the people, Serving up deceit, After all the spins you’ve spun, How will you keep your seat?   T...

  Exodus   Selections on the shelf going small, No one left to make the haul. Piles of unused drywall, Masked men have answered the call.   Alligator alley prison wall, Florida man on the ball. Veggie absent from the stall, Wallets empty and still in thrall.   The unherded bovine, Unfinished roof short of skyline. The fruit rotting on the vine - They say the exodus is going fine.   Commodities going unpacked, What’s left found on the racks? Pallets unmoved on the tarmac, Leaving the grocery with the empty sack…   Forests left to burn black, Trails too overgrown to track. Hotel luxury gone unstacked, Which of you takes up the slack?   The unherded bovine, Unfinished roof short of skyline. The fruit rotting on the vine - They say the exodus is going fine.   Isn’t this what was voted for? Isn’t this what was in store? It’s getting worse, some call for more, Shortsightedness galore....

  Dragon in the Garden   It was born in the land of queens, Its ruin should have been foreseen. A reptile sired by the vile, It makes good use of the corrupt machine.   There is a dragon behind the garden wall, And it claims not to be a dragon at all. But it belches and it burns, And steps on anything it considers small. There is a dragon in the castle keep, A dragon who is burrowing in deep. And it thrashes and it crashes, And it burns your land around you while you sleep.   It crawled Gotham, waste in its wake, Offered less a deal than a take. A love of wrong far too strong, On the make as long as you stake.   There is a dragon behind the garden wall, And it claims not to be a dragon at all. But it belches and it burns, And steps on anything it considers small. There is a dragon in the castle keep, A dragon who is burrowing in deep. And it thrashes and it crashes, And it burns your land around you while y...

  Bits   The bits keep coming off. They don’t stick around long, They melt, or dissipate, or… When he said he was coming unglued, I didn’t think it meant This. He found it in a pawn shop, the book – Arcanum Exsistentiae , Old, Leather-bound, A curiosity smelling of... The shop owner let it go cheap. The bits don’t disappear as much as Fray? Fade? Flee? I think all of those are right somehow. I asked who was going to translate it. He said he understood every word. He also said he didn’t know how. He read some to me, Until he stopped. Until the bits started... They don’t fall, But they don’t float, They Waft, Like feathers, He said we’re feathers, The book says we’re feathers. “Feathers of Life,” he said, “Held together by...” Then the bits began... feathering... I’m going to try to get him back. I can read the book, I don’t know how, It’s still Latin but... I’m going to try to get him back. I’ll let y...

  Stories   One conversation here, Another across the way. No information is dear, No care to what you say. No outcome becomes mere, So, speak without delay, Just this one thing is clear: The game is how you play.   Welcome to the Gossip Game, On the entry form put anyone’s name. Go on now, there’s no shame, And we will treat you just the same.   What did you tell the one, And what did you tell the other? Who is it you would stun, Would you re-catch a lover? Is this your idea of fun, Do you feel undercover? will you feel you’ve won, When all the facts are smothered?   Welcome to the Gossip Game, On the entry form put anyone’s name. Go on now, there’s no shame, And we will treat you just the same.   Talk and talk and squawk, You cannot walk the walk. Squawk and squawk and squawk and stalk, We just sit back and gawk.   What trouble do you stir, Is there an end you crave? Is chaos j...

  Hideaway   The tracks laid long ago, Where they lead you already know. A spiral traveled many times, Singing too familiar rhymes.   Comfort and complaint are found there, Insubstantial, composed of air. Intangible and all too real, And so well known, there’s the appeal…   Visit paths long untrodden, Faces beckon long forgotten. Delving the past, intensive gaze, Serenely lost in unending maze. Cotton swaddled, dimly lit, The hook that’s lowered, the unseized bit. Unsevered past, recaptured muse, Already lived, who can refuse?   Run around that same old ground, The restful familiar surround. Ignoring troubles inbound, Sink in deeper, become unfound.   External goes undetected, Internal sheathed and protected. Hardships, and stress all let go, Return to things you used to know…   Visit paths long untrodden, Faces beckon long forgotten. Delving the past, intensive gaze, Serenely lost in ...

  Gray Sails   Tall ship on the horizon, Gray-sailed and bringing the dawn. Tall ship on the horizon, And I will be moving on.   Some souls are borne away On gossamer wing, Some ride the breeze so free. Some souls are carried far By long lost loves, Some climb being weighty. Some souls must return, For lessons they did not see. I have returned to the ocean, To be borne across the sea.   Tall ship on the horizon, Gray-sailed and bringing the dawn. Tall ship on the horizon, And I will be moving on.   Some live life on the prairie, Their souls rise easily. Some live beneath forest eaves, These will scale their trees. Some live in concrete towers, The skies are reached with ease. But I have dwelt in the mountain, Yet still carried across the sea.   Tall ship on the horizon, Gray-sailed and bringing the dawn. Tall ship on the horizon, And I will be moving on.   Tall spars reach on hig...

  Shade   The pulses, The ones and zeroes, They echo across a creation as intangible as breath, Their reality is the product of arrangement, Constructs that disappear, dissolve, disengage, With the flick of a switch, Or the whim of a nature uncontrollable. What real phantom will you embrace? What impalpable rock sets your feet? What two-dimensional figure do you reach for? Only the glare of the screen answers. Words. Words, words and words. Colors and sounds from any distance unresolved, The flat plane observed, Lifeless, Though it resembles animation. Without a mouth of its own, It consumes. There is no reality here: What is meant to be seen is seen, What is meant to be heard is spoken. Words. Words, words and words. They are but a shade of the speaker, Insubstantial as the breath required to speak, What is seen is meant to be seen – Reality has more bruises. Imperfections hidden by pretty phrase, Implications misr...

  Beast   The chest is now no longer unbeaten, The hulking imbecile is pacified, For now… Only for now. But the ego hungers, There is no satiation. No reward is large enough, No praise loud enough, No blood hot enough to satisfy, “More” is the only answer it hears now. The beast is ravenous, The animal is rabid, The creature rages, And still it is uncaged. It will not be tamed, It cannot be tamed, It will rain itself upon the world as acid and fire, And still it is uncaged. It has revealed itself: It is lunacy embodied, It is a careening carnivore, It is demonic and unmanageable, And it is eyeing a terrible weapon: It wishes to release hell, And all of us know this. It must not be allowed. Yet, The safeguards have been gnawed upon, The controls are weakened, The buffers assailed, And it senses its moment… It must not be allowed. It has wished its entire existence to be feared – Now is as good a time as any f...

  Wild Man   Footsteps that echo through time, A voice that sometimes appears in rhyme, The guise of a thousand men, A wisdom impossible to pen.   Where he walked the path remained, Nowhere and everywhere his domain. Even the hungry wolf would pass him by, And when he passed, the horses cried.   Though he lives a thousand ages past, Still some memory of that legacy lasts, Some sense of him still occupies, And when he passed, even the horses cried.   Dim manuscript tells some tale, But mere word is clouded and pale, His works shrouded in mystery, Myth become of history.   Through eras his presence rings, A man who walked beside a king, A man who from fame would shy, And when he passed, even the horses cried.   Though he lives a thousand ages past, Still some memory of that legacy lasts, Some sense of him still occupies, And when he passed, even the horses cried.   What powers did he po...

  Storytimes   He didn’t say what he didn’t say, But he says it every day. Storytime in the middle of life.   He doesn’t say what he did, He didn’t say what’s on the vid. Storytime in the middle of life.   Watch it go down every day, Watch it go down, but what’s the play? Storytime in the middle of life.   You saw what you saw But what’s the story? They tell you it’s cheap allegory. You heard what you heard, But they claim it ain’t real, You saw what you saw, so what’s the deal? Storytime in the middle of life.   He said that he plays the cards dealt, She said that he said something else. Storytime in the middle of life.   They say other things they didn’t say, They never say what they didn’t say. Storytime in the middle of life.   They told each other, but not you, They told each other and the rumor grew, Storytime in the middle of life.   You hear what you hear, But what’...

  Specials   We are the secret special cops, Keepers of the secret ops. We don’t know What we don’t know, But the pay is good, Can’t make us stop.   We know where the secrets are, But tell us all you know. The microphones are not too far, Make sure you speak real slow.   Just relax in the restrictive rig, You’re not leaving anyhow. Can you name us Mr. Big, And is he with us now?   We are the special secret cops, Keepers of the special ops. We don’t know What we don’t know, We’re up to no good, Can’t make us stop.   We’re your friends, why make a fuss? Just tell us what you can. Really, who else can you trust, We need to know the plan.   A mystery man was in the can, Did he get a note? Who are you with, who is your clan, What was it that you wrote?   We are special and we’re cops, They give us all the special ops. We don’t know What we don’t know, Things are getting goo...

  The Long Ago, the Far Away   I saw a clear sun in a dream, And a sky above unsullied green. I sought out seers wise and keen, For I would know what it might mean.   Brighter than I had ever known, Pleasant airs on soft wind blown. A vision of a healed world shown, A vision that felt like home.   “Long ago, far away” Words within the vision say. Long ago, far away, There my thoughts do often stray.   Long and long my quest went on, Sometimes to dusk, sometimes ‘til dawn, But just as my hope was gone, To an ancient my chase was drawn.   But my search had gone astray For I had to leave there without delay When I heard the wisest say: “Gone and gone, long ago, far away.”   Long ago, far away, Before it all began to gray. Long ago, far away, There my thoughts still do stray.   So my search continues more, To teacher’s home, and scholar’s door. Seeking knowledge, myth and lore, Nor ...