Near End

by Cliff Lake

It is now very nearly the end, 
As down your rocky road you weary wend:
Fallback positions you dear defend,
Searching stony faces for a final friend.

The seeds of ruin spread in manure deep,
Living off the backs of others, your return is cheap.
You fear the judgement you will final reap,
As off the precipices you created you leap.

Why don’t you remember where you came from?
How will you answer the beat of your funeral drum?
Your day of reckoning is approaching chum,
Do you hear the beat of your funeral drum?

You show up in state in your soiled gown,
While watching all your webs come unwound.
See how your world goes upside-down,
What an unwieldy fate you have found.

All of your plans go un-gelling,
Every day more enemies need felling.
Everything seems like it’s going helling,
And yet you’re still the cat that needs belling.

Why don’t you remember where you came from?
How will you answer the beat of your funeral drum?
Your day of reckoning is approaching chum,
Do you hear the beat of your funeral drum?

You may take comfort in the lies you’ve told,
Gain what there is from the lives you’ve sold,
Try to cover the secrets you hold,
And still you wonder how the world has gone cold.

So keep on ranting your tongue-mangled twister,
Blither away while all our ears blister.
Broadcast to the world that you’re an un-powerful mister,
Never have we seen such a weak sister.

Why don’t you remember where you came from?
How will you answer the beat of your funeral drum?
Your day of reckoning is approaching chum,
Do you hear the beat of your funeral drum?

It is now very nearly the end, 
As down your rocky road you weary wend:
Fallback positions you dear defend,
Searching stony faces for a final friend.

Cliff Lake 5/19/2026
Copyright © Clifford Lake 2026