Welcome to my words. Here you will find poems, songs, stories, opinions...you get the idea, please read on:



Different Tastes...Different Pages

Life has many flavors and in my walk through this world I have tasted many things. Below you will find a sampling of many genres and motifs. Please scroll this page and find the link that best suits YOUR tastes at this moment. Then return one day and see if you feel hungry for something different...

All pieces that have an were written by request. If you would like Mr Lake to write to YOUR specifications you may email him at the address found at the bottom of the screen.
FEATURE OF THE MONTH


Then, and Now Remember when things were better? Ha! Were they? Not really, Not much, Not then, Not now. Remember when things got better? Well, did they? Well, really, How much, And then There's now. Remember when you were better? Well, weren't you? No, really, So much, You then, You now. Cliff Lake 2/11/2000 Copyright©2000 Clifford Lake


She asked me to write one poem about 2 different things...
Beauty's Gate

At dusk she saw the lights at the end of the garden where the wild roses grew.
And treading softly, she approached them, and snuck in close for a better view.
The flitting lights and noise like music, and a strange desire to rejoice,
Drew her into the tangled brush, where she heard 
"Hello Tina, we've been waiting..." from a tinkling voice.
Her gasp drew laughter, and the lights grew wings and faces, 
and the fairies drew her in.
To meet the King, who waved her to his side and declared
 "Now the Feast can begin." 

A goblet was passed to her and she drank deeply of a sweet wine, 
And felt it's warmth move through her and her eyes began to shine.
"But," she asked, "How do you know me, and why did you have to wait?"
"Because," said the King, " 
'Tis our duty to ward those that live so near to Beauty's Gate."
And the laughter rang again as she peered around to see,
"I don't have to stand for this," she said as she started to leave,
 "I don't like people, not even fairies, laughing at me!"

"Stay!!" cried the fairies,
 "We laugh because we have answers that humans seem 
to find too difficult to know...'
'We have answers you will never have should you choose to go!"
And the King held out his hand and bowed his head by way of apology,
And Tina once more sat by his side and prepared to listen attentively.
"Patience is required Tina," the King told her, 
"And we must Feast before the Lesson can begin."
And Feast they did, and sing, and dance, and Tina was kept
 entertained until the night grew thin.

The king favored the woman with smiles as he asked her about her life.
The King favored the woman with his attention as she spoke on becoming a wife.
The King of the Fairies noticed the glow about her as she spoke of her man.
And he nodded his approval as she painted her future as only a loving woman can.

The Eastern sky began to grow light, and the fairies one by one bade Tina goodnight, 
Until at last Tina felt sleep steal across her,
 and she could no longer keep her eyes open, try as she might.
And the King bowed deeply to her and almost left, but she remembered and cried "Wait!"
"You have never told me, where can I find it, where is Beauty's Gate?"
And the King smiled softly and said in a voice like the cooing morning dove,
"It is already there before you, sweet Tina, 
because, lucky human, you are already in love."

by Cliff Lake
© 4-19-1998
 
Visit my Web of Romance Page, which focuses on requests from people in an internet romance



The Dancer

She dances like shadows down my memory, almost within reach.
She dances like moonlight, like a careless breeze on a beach.
She dances like beauty rarely framed in a window-pane.
She dances like laughter, then she dances again.

She dances like springtime, it's flowers grown from sadness.
She dances like freedom, and her dance is a caress.
She dances like time, you almost forget pain.
She dances like life, then she dances again.

She dances and I see her, but my feet remain clay.
She dances to my heartbeat, then she dances away.
She dances without sorrow, without fear, without shame.
She dances like night, then she dances again.

Cliff Lake
3/17/'93

For more Romantic Poems (i'd love it if you click here...)


Drownin' (Complete with snorted chords) My life sucks. It sucks so hard I can hear it from here. My life sucks It sucks so hard I can hear it from here. Don't you know that I been cryin so long and so hard, I'll be drowning in a pool of my own tears. Saw my pretty baby walkin' down the street. Saw her walkin' down that road alongside some other man's feet. My life sucks. It sucks so hard I can hear it from here My life sucks It sucks so hard I can hear it from here Lord I tell ya, I been down so long & so hard I'll be drowning in a pool of my own tears. The president on the phone, he telling me he's my friend. Got his finger on the button, plannin' a nuclear revenge. My life sucks. It sucks so hard I can hear it from here My life sucks It sucks so hard I can hear it from here I'm sayin' I been cryin' for so long & so hard I'll be drowning in a pool of my own tears. I wake up every morning and I look at the clock I'm ten minutes late already and I can't find my other sock. My life SUCKS And so do this harmonica… (JAM) Repeat first verse; repeat chorus and then repeats, ad-libs and end Cliff Lake 11/16/94
Different Shades of Blues(click, click, click on me!)


      Hail, Wail, the Gang's All Here

Hail to the forty-year-old child
With his oily jokes,
  His farts that choke 
And his inefficient schemes.
Hail to the boy-in-a-man's-body with his darting eyes and his pubescent lies, 
And his ever-present wet dreams.

Here's to the women who never grow up
With their too young clothes (and something for their nose)
And their constant hunger for more men.
Here's to the girls that live in ripe bodies, 
Who must fuck around,
 With their plans to tear down, 
But who never plan for an end.

Here's to the child who hasn't grown up yet,
With his untainted dreams,
Who hasn't any schemes,
Who thinks that everything is the best.
Here's to the children who are still young of age,
With their innocent face, who must live in this place,
And who will learn about life from the rest.

Christ, I hope they make it.

Cliff Lake
8/16/94


(CLICK ME!)There are more dark visions to be found at Le Dungeon Hard-Ass



       The Price

Having once again had to face the gritty end of empty promise I feel...
What?
Nothing? Not that.
Everything? Not at once.
I feel there is a price.
Hers? I'll not collect.
Mine? I'll pay myself.

To have held and hoped has its' inherent beauty;
I know, I've bought that light.
I've paid in pain and pride.
I've paid in lust and laughter.
I've paid in insult and innuendo, curses, cries, sex, sweat, sorrow...
What of it?
My complaints profit nothing.

The price?
Wisdom?
I'll do it again.
Avoidance breeds a dusty spirit.
I'll not die inside my own body.
I'll not keep my tears 'til they dry my soul.

The price?
Myself.
I am my own coin.
I'll pay me.

by Cliff Lake

© 1-29-92


(place your mouse on me and click!)Take a short walk to Storybook Land




Through: A Man

Walking, he does not run, cowardice makes him smile,
And he takes himself too seriously;
He passes through.

Lighted, he shines darkly,
To illume your fears, your phantasies, and (redly), your hatreds.
And then, he passes through.

Knighted, he champions your goals.
Nighted, he awakens your desires, 
Mighted, he could be all you wish…
But he passes through.

Simply, he complicates your thoughts.
You question, then quest for reality.
Because he passed through.

He asks for little, while asking you much.
You can look, but did you touch?
He didn't say as he passed through.

Demanding, he lets you go.
You must follow your own path, so,
He passes through.
by Cliff Lake
© 9-8-93

(place your mouse on me and click!)Hop on the Carousel!




Weird and Meaningless

Weird and meaningless-they're just words...
Two differing lines of thought that may conjoin from time to time.

I met them both in a bar once.
Weird kept telling me about her last three husbands and an alien and
then tried to get drunk.
She seemed to be doing a real good job.
Meaningless just got drunk.
Then she put her hand in my pocket.
Weird cried about a kitten and laughed about a dog.
Meaningless found my other pocket.
Weird told me about her sincere belief in the principles of Anabaptistic
Broccoli that she'd just read out of a book to her children for the last four days.
She thought it really helped her.
Meaningless licked whiskey off my neck.
Weird made up a drink on the spot and coerced us into drinking too much of it.
Meaningless licked some of THAT off my neck.
Then we all went back to my place...

Weird and meaningless, meaningless and weird-
Two differing lines of thought that may conjoin from time to time.

They're just words...

Cliff Lake

(c'mon, gimme a click)Ravings....



Check out my OTHER pages...This was just a small sampling of styles.Just CLICK on one of these links!
[Sampler] [Web of Romance] [Romantic Love] [Dark Words] [Carnival Times] [Storybook] [Blues] [Comedy] [About the Author]


The Allman Brothers Band
Friends & Others, poems written by request
Had a BAD relationship? This page is for you!

CliffSongs@classicnet.net




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© All material copyrighted by Clifford Arthur Lake 2002 All Rights Reserved