A Leap in the Dark

 

A Gamble to Lose

There lived a gambler at the world's edge,

With concrete faith in brevity,

His words, which I decode here,

He repeated for eternity. 


He was a gambler like no other,

Played a gamble he always lost,

With not a quilt for warmth, I wonder,

From where the stakes he bought.


Holding up a shrivelled finger,

He said to me, " Mark! Dear girl, 

I see you walking the path,

That led me to the end of the world.


You've gambled a small stake for love,

But know, you've nothing to gain,

Look at this cripple and learn,

Love's a homicidal game.


It's a game where the winner, 

Is the one who's lost it all,

Death rids him of suffering before,

He sees the end of this fall.


Run faraway before it's too late,

Cage your heart be brave!

Lest you be a regret in my heart, 

Another one I couldn't save!"


I ran down the tunnel nearby,

But on my voyage I learned,

Life's not just about survival,

Or the crisp notes you've earned.


It's about that little flame,

That in your heart burns,

That belief in selfless love, no matter,

How the road of life turns.


The urge to forgive again

Not let evil overpower the good,

That unwillingness to give up,

Long after you know you should. 


Hearts and people aren't gambles,

They defy predictability,

They need the elixir of time, even if,

It means an eternity.


You win not love when you lose it all,

But when you know, it's not a thing to lose,

It comes back time after time,

To look for it, you have to choose.


I took this thought and ran back,

Breathless, I pounded on his door,

He was deaf to every word I said,

Even after I implored.


Death took him before I could convince him,

There's light at the end of the tunnel,

And you must not be blind to it,

But strong enough to push away the rubble!