The Losers

I think it's time

To lay down the cards

I never was someone 

To call the bluff

There comes a day

When you have to face the dealer

Stop the game and say you played enough

I don't have the will to keep on betting

I don't have the strength to spend a dime

I don't have the eyes to be a gambler

When I bet on the losers every time

I think it's time

To get off the track

It's too much to run

In every round

There comes a day

When they see your legs are broken

And then the b******s aim to put you down

I don't have the shoes to keep on running

I'm too slow to keep up with the line

I don't have the pace to be a gambler

When I run with the losers every time

I think it's time

I see a new game of chance

I must admit 

I'm tempted by the win

There comes a day

You find a wheel of fortune

You can't stop from giving it a spin

I don't have the might to keep the cards down

I can't stop the race running in my mind

I still have an ache to be the gambler

And I'll stand with the losers every time.

Reviews

[Chris Shaw]

Gambling is a losers game. You just keep on losing. Best quit while you are ahead, but that doesn’t happen. A gambler keeps on gambling. It’s an addiction. There is an ache here to stop. I felt that desperation. Marvelously penned. A great read.

Chris

[Brandon Houser]

Thank you very much Chris!

[Rosie C]

This is an insightful piece.

Full of deep emotion and intriguing character.

I admire your patience towards the reader in this.

I can sense your tired consciousnesses. I hope this poem has been a relief for you.

[Brandon Houser]

Thank you for your kind words.
As for my consciousness, we all have our days. :)

[W. Barrett Munn]

Brandon,

a fine effort with a catchy refrain; it might could be revised into a neat villanelle, also.

Winston

[Brandon Houser]

Glad you liked it Winston! Appreciate you chiming in.

[John the Baptist]

Gambling is the overt topic of this well rhymed offering, but the psychology described pertains to all addictive habits. That "ache" mentioned in the last verse is always there, ready to seize control in a moment of weakness.

[emmajoygreen]

Is this about card playing or merely a well-used phrase to talk about one's use of anything available at a trying time?! Sometimes thought is beaten by desperate measures or those uncommon to the one in trouble! ('Walking on thin ice time, swinging on a faded rope. Chancing your luck?)

It's neither gambling nor analysis, more like: blind terror let loose, try anything going!

[Brandon Houser]

Whatever you feel when you are reading this, it can be about that. I am happy if someone gets something different out of something I wrote. I am honored if it takes on a different life for someone else.

[John Sullivan]

Reminds me of Leonard Cohen, in a good way.

"Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
everybody knows the war is over
everybody knows the good guys lost..."

The b******s do be like that, unfortunately. Well done, all the same.

[Brandon Houser]

Cohen is some big shoes to fill. I am humbled by that. Oddly enough, I could almost picture Jerry Garcia singing it as I wrote it down. I know Leonard and Jerry are apples and oranges though. All the same, I am beyond thankful for your nice review.

[John Sullivan]

The pleasure was mine. A very good write, if I may say so.

[Curly Grace]

A quiet weariness runs through this, the metaphors circling the same truth; he can’t stop wanting the game even when he knows he’ll lose. It’s tender in its resignation.

[Brandon Houser]

Thank you for reading. Your responses are always appreciated! Sometimes I am surprised by what people give me when I see what they get out things. Tender was not something I thought about while writing this, but I am delighted for someone to see it there.