CliffSongs

  Blind and Blind   From out of the wasteland where tainted water flows, From out of the wasteland a blinded man rose. And the blinded man spake as if with authority, And the blinded man spake of all the things he could not see. And he recalled of him all the sights he had never seen, And spake against all, and even color he would demean. And the people listened, although his speech was hollow, And those of some discontent among them began to follow.   And they followed, though he could not see, Followed him feverishly. Followed without inquiry, They followed – and they did not see.   They followed the blinded man to lands barren and cold, They followed because he said the sun had been stole. They followed and many fell by the way, They followed and he said they were strong enough to stay.   And they followed, though he could not see, Followed him feverishly. Followed without inquiry, They followed – and they did n...

  From Somewhere   Once there was a man from somewhere, The greedy and the foolish he could snare. He could tell them literally anything, He told them he was their everything. He gathered him religious fanatics, And courted him fringe lunatics. And got them all to set him so high, And got them to let him suck them dry.   But some in even the smallest town, They don’t let the deal go down. From the people hear the sound, The march against the tyrant bound.   Now this man that came from somewhere, Did as he liked without a care. Flouting convention and law alike, Threatening all with fisted strike. And the foolish and the greedy agreed, His acknowledgement their greatest need. Stupidly accepting their suffering, Stupidly allowing him to become king.   But some in even the smallest town, They won’t let the deal go down. From the people hear the sound, The march against the tyrant bound.   Worse become...

  Tides and Tithe   What value has valuation? None, I think. Do you value gems? Do you value gold? Do you value numbers on a screen? Value is arbitrary. Value is momentary. Value is circumstantial. Attend: Salt has been valued equally to gold. Aluminum has been valued more than gold. Silver was valued above gold. See the man! He has been locked away more than this week. He has been given only water. He is offered a pound of gold in imprisonment, Patterned as he cherishes. He is offered a pound of steak in imprisonment, Prepared as he likes. Which will he choose? Starvation is the great motivator. At times I have been reduced to the essentials: Food, clothing, shelter. It may happen again. Maybe I will survive it. Maybe I won’t. Neither matters because Eventually I will not survive – Not at all. Of what value will my small luxuries be then? To me… Nothing. Therefore, what value have they now? None of them are...

  Technical Foul   How did the signal go awry? Point the finger at the other guy! Responsibility need not apply, If confusion you amplify.   Investigators on the prowl. Newspapers begin to howl. Don’t give in, throw in the towel, It was just a technical foul.   Never mind why the wisemen scowl, Keep shoveling shit with a bear-sized trowel, Feel the tightening grip in your bowel, While you commit to your technical foul.   Don’t worry, your job is fine, Just say it was all by design. Or that there are new guidelines, Or you were hacked by him sometime.   It’s all less than what it seems: Who knows what F-18 means? Let them bitch and moan and growl, Simply a technical foul.   Never mind why the wisemen scowl, Keep shoveling shit with a bear-sized trowel, Feel the tightening grip in your bowel, While you commit to your technical foul.   Cliff Lake 3/27/2025 Copyright © Clifford Lake 202...

  Tuesday, In the Year of the Plague   Adrift I am in information, Canard concocted without cessation. Am I drowning in misconception, Or in the more turbulent deception.   The ship careens: I am thrown. The lies are paid, the truth on loan. And how to brave the cruel cyclone, How far away is certainty blown?   Fact buried beneath the wave, How many left that we must save? Sharks in the water, legitimacy bleeds, Know they will give no quarter, what of our needs?   How do we with the storm contend, What reality are we to suspend? Acidic lies rain without end, Beneath these waters will we descend?   Honesty’s lifeboat under duress, How do we paddle out of this mess? Can the ship be righted out of distress? Who will answer the SOS?   Abandoned we are in heavy seas, Afloat and unmoored in oily sleaze, Tossed by storm more like disease, Gods swept away we might appease.   Off course, backs...

  Mixed Signal   Open the information stream, It is as bad as what it seems. It looks like this crop’s been creamed, Signals sent on widest beam.   Drink to a pretended war, Take your shot and then one more. Signal the upcoming score, Discuss it all through an open door.   Appreciate the signal spread. Approximate within the thread. Apprehension, fear, and dread, Apply liberally to the head.   Drinks all around! Be of good cheer! The signal’s long and loud and clear! Nothing to lose! Nothing to fear, This side of the Atlantic’s clear!   Drink up men, it’s said and done. Drink up while the tale is spun. The signal went; it’s all good fun, Drink up before we’re overrun!   The signal sent so good and strong, Signal sent where it don’t belong. Signal sent and it’s so wrong, Signal got you in this song.   Signals beaming through the night, Signals beamed before the fight. Signal sent a...

  Desserts   Robber baron, liar, fiend, Destruction path smiling careens. Adderall or ketamine, Twisty promise from these are gleaned.   Drug-addled and ego-bound, Self-proclamation gains the crown. Grab it all and run aground, Scuttle the ship and let us drown.   It’s going wrong and getting worse, Time to empty the bloated purse. Hit them where most it hurts, They are earned these just desserts.   Sycophants and worshippers, Unimmune from forfeiture. Gardener and carpenter, Shield yourself from extortioner.   Close the doors, go to ground, No more interest to compound. Barter, trade, that will confound, If it’s gone, it can’t be found.   It’s going wrong and getting worse, Time to empty the bloated purse. Hit them where most it hurts, They are earned these just desserts.   Cheater, coward, scoundrel, thief, They would have you suspend belief. Undermining without relief, Instal...

  Lesson of the Lazy Day   What’s that I smell on the air? The crocus blooms and gets on with life. See that rabbit over there? He is unconcerned with war and strife. Not for him complicity, Sunny skies and fresh grass are enough, I long for days of simplicity, I’ve had my fill of the other stuff. I see the birds soar in the air, It is they that are the truly free. Feeding and nesting are their care, Would that we had their sensibility. At dusk the fox goes passing by, He gives no more than a passing glance. Another creature beneath the sky, Unencumbered by man’s penchants. The possum is not behind in rent, The geese do not ever clock in. Trees give shade without recompense, What insanity are we locked in? Is it not enough to watch the clouds, And listen to the grass grow? Why do we hustle along in crowds? Why can’t we just let life flow? See the lazy circles of the hawk, Watch the cows as they contemplate. Are they consc...

  Stormcall   Thunderheads breach the horizon, Lightning stabs giving warning. Hear the winds in their uprising, The storm is at the door by morning.   The blundering is all crash and clank, The plundering, who makes bank? Feebly fronting before us all, Forecasting their practiced fall.   A tightened grip forged from steal, You signed the papers; this is the deal. The time is past for feigned surprise, The weather’s bad, the gales will rise.   Thunderheads breach the horizon, Lightning stabs giving warning. Hear the winds in their uprising, The storm is at the door by morning.   Gathering the fringed supporters: Marching minions awaiting orders. Whipping them to breaking strain, Come what may, they will bring pain.   Claiming witness, judge and jury, Saving the forces for the fury. Every day a new perform, Thinking they’ll outlast the storm.   Thunderheads breach the horizon, Lightn...

  This Time   Who is that everywhere, Some hopped-up billionaire, It’s overwhelming and mind-numbing. Who’s pushing you down, Some krazy ketamine klown, Did you Nazi this coming?   Do we watch this man break it, Do we stand here and take it, Are we to allow all this slaughter? We are better than this, Tell them cease and desist, Make them bend to the law like they oughta.   In for a penny, in for a pound, When do we stand up And stand our ground? In for a pound, in for a penny, The time is now, This time is as good as any.   Some interfering jerk, Pretending he’s doing work, But he’s really just juggling axes. This mumbling cretin, We know what he’s gettin’: Contracts and a break on his taxes.   He wasn’t elected, Let’s see him rejected, Send him back to where he came from. He props up a clown, Let’s take him down, Send him home without a crumb.   In for a penny, in for a pound, ...

  People   The little dog likes his walks, The man likes how well his pet is trained. He bags up the dog poop, Good citizen. He leaves the bag on the sidewalk. People are the worst People there are. Is half an effort Worth the trouble? Would asking him that Waste oxygen? She signed up for the climate newsletter. She forwards it to everyone. She thanks herself for doing her part. She won’t donate. She finds plastic bags provided More convenient than bringing a reusable in. Is the non-effort of one person so bad? How about the million just like her? People are the worst People there are. Don’t tell me of good deeds Performed to salve a conscience. Don’t show me help That is only assuaging guilt. Why are the consequences Someone else’s problem? How long before They stop performing at all? The little dog has a bladder infection, The carpet gets a bad smell. The shelter can only keep so many at a time… People Are...

  Crossroads Again   Criminals in the sacred hallways stalk. The villains have grabbed all the keys and broken the locks. How do we with these fiends grapple? They have broken into and defiled the chapel.   Fools reveling in disaster, Institutions falling faster. Where is the light we were assured? Look at the future unsecured.   Here at the crossroads again, Grasping for the receding rope’s end: Is this the choice you did not make? Is this the chance you failed to take? Here at a crossroads again.   Tendrils of infamy encircle in siege, Power being removed beyond reach, Grasped by brutes who cannot be appeased, Why would anyone choose this disease?   We once again live in oppressive clime. We fought off such straits upon a time. We stood against the evil then, We find ourselves at that crossroads again.   Here at the crossroads again, Grasping for the receding rope’s end: Is this the choice y...

  Friends   I can see my friend, I can see him from here. But he won’t visit any longer, He won’t come by. He no longer trusts me, Or the people I live by, And I do not blame him.   What have I done to my friend To cause him to shy from me? I have existed. I have existed in the right place At the wrong time. And though that is not my fault, Still, I do not blame him.   Once I loved my existence, In this place, In my time, Faulted though it was. But now too many that also live here Embrace those faults, And name them virtues.   Loudly they proclaim against my friend, And name him lesser, And claim debt of him, And threaten his home, His livelihood, His autonomy, And would co-opt his home.   What’s worse, Is that I do not know If I can stop them, From attempting to act on their words, And neither does my friend, Nor do any of his friends. And I don’t blame them.   Once I ...

  For Immediate Rele ase: The Real Fake News – Kids in the Hall Edition   Elon Musk today announced plans to have wheels replace his feet after discovering one of them was a left. “If we’re going to make any progress, I’m going to have to roll through this presid… uh, appointment.” said the erstwhile cyborg to a group of children he pulled from a large sack. He then ordered the group to rifle through the Resolute desk and throw out whatever they found.   President Trump took laps at the Daytona 500 race. As expected, no egg prices dropped as a result.   Mark Zuckerberg has cancelled all public appearances until his oil can is located. He has however promised to continue making Facebook even worse.   Health and Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. today denied reports of the existence of the H5N1 virus, also known as “bird flu” claiming, “Whoever heard of a bird with cold symptoms, I mean, c’mon!” Meanwhile he promised to release a list of...

  Stealin’   Another day and Another distraction Pointing away A continued subtraction.   Moving the funds from Over there to here, Three card monte, The funds disappear.   You fell for the carnival pitch, Now you see the bait and switch. Maybe you call it double dealin’, In the old days we just called it stealin’.   They tell you to trust, But their story’s too old. “Follow the money” But the trail has gone cold.   Just what are they doing With their kiddie hacks? They’ve made such a mess, It covers their tracks.   You fell for the carnival pitch, Now you see the bait and switch. Maybe you call it double dealin’, In the old days we just called it stealin’.   You thought you gave yourself a break, You thought you’d get a piece of the cake. You find out you never had a stake, This is what you voted for, cupcake.   You fell for the carnival pitch, Now you see the bait a...

  Gulf of Embezzle-O   Elon and his kiddies swarm, He says we need Xtra reforms. The U.S. is reaching new sub-norms, Watching all the DOGE deforms.   And the Orange Ogre lets it go, Bringing the U.S. low. But We the People, we still know, They plunder from here to the Gulf of Mexico.   The Gulf of Mexico, my friend, Where the dinosaur met his end, There isn’t any need to pretend, In the Gulf of Mexico, my friend.   The Oval Office internal foe, His rich guy cronies in tow, The Rule of Law is no mo’ From here to the Gulf of Mexico.   The Gulf of Mexico, my friend, Why would anyone backbend? Seems like such a dead-end, Messing with the Gulf of Mexico, friend.   How do we throw off this shadow? I think we need better ammo. They would have us exist below, Under guard from here to the Gulf of Mexico.   The Gulf of Mexico, my friend, We will not condescend. Listen as I recommend, Stil...

  Great Undo   Data breaker extraordinaire, What the hell is he doing in there? Is he still the tech sensation? Nah, he’s just stealing your information.   Top dog gives him a blank check, Standing down while the nation is wrecked. Seduced by the South African: Prez has left you for another man.   Feel them pull the rug under you, What are they really up to? Is this what you asked them to do? Welcome to the Great Undo.   Was is it supposed to go like this? Giving your info the death kiss? How do you think your life will go, When there isn’t anything they don’t know?   Look how the big man backs from his threats – What does he really want to get? When did he become X’s biggest fan? Donny has left you for another man.   Feel them pull the wool over you, What are they really up to? Is this what you want them to do? Welcome to the Great Screw You.   Will we let them in every division squa...

  They Say   “Look!” they say As they empty your plate, “The feast has just begun!” “Hooray!” they bray, “We celebrate The feeding of the One.”   “What joy!” so coy, They dangle the ploy Announced ad infinitum. “Misread!” they said, As the rats they bred, Prepare to turn and bite ‘em.   “We won!” they spun, Beating the sagging drum, And they smile gritted teeth. “You can’t!” they pant, And policy recant While quaking underneath.   “Stay away!” they pray, “Or we will surely make you pay!” Fearing that we may just have the guts. “You need!” they plead, Displaying their wanton greed, They’re complicit up to their butts.   “Unfair!” they share, While pretending they care, Their hands busy in the till. “We deserve!” they serve, Hoping they aren’t observed Thwarting the people’s will.   We see, you agree, And just where can they flee, Maybe to some golf haven. They’re debris we d...

  Pirated   We let them come aboard, Though without much trust. Ignoring tattered honor, And reputations made of rust. We gave over tiller, They claimed it was their due, Now they’re steering for the rocks, They broke the rudder in two. We hear them sing:   “We’re jolly pirates, Dangerous and bold. See us get ours, You’re left in the cold. We’re plundering pirates, We cannot be controlled, We’ll sink this ship, Once we’ve emptied the hold.”   They’ve raised the full sail, The storm strains the mast. The crew is in the brig, The passengers harassed. Some sailors remain, Surviving the cull, Someone to man the oars, Before they scuttle the hull. And the pirate sings:   “We’re mighty pirates, Blinded and bold. We’ll be jumping ship, After pocketing the gold. We’re plundering pirates, We cannot be controlled, We’ll sink this ship, Once we’ve emptied the hold.”   We are careening on, ...

  Diminishing   The gray times are upon us: A diminishing, A long twilight, Though the sun warms hotter, Its vigil is besmirched, And the skies are no longer friendly.   Here we have proudfully wasted, Our celebrations recall the dead, The living going largely unnoticed, Excepting garish blaring shoutings, Lauding many unworthy, Who think much less in return.   Onward we speed! Rushing headlong to nowhere, For all must retire at their end. But while we continue, We run, Only to finally stop; we know not when.   Faster we fly! In our wake, Poison and oily waters, Smokes and burnt land, And as testament to our great pace, The air browns nicely. Those in the high place, They elevate themselves ever higher, To rise above the greases, and the sludges, And make much of themselves, And make worse messes, For those below to clean.   These are the gray times, We diminish: We make the twiligh...