Classic Poem

It was all or nothing.

All the cards were on the table.
No aces up the sleeve.

Fate sat patient in the corner
Sipping an ice cold draft of beer
And the one-eyed dealer
Cocked his wrist and fired—
A single lifetime from the deck.

It landed square in front of him.
Deuces wild.

And the only question was
Would he hold or fold?


(Previously published in The Horsethief's Journal, Issue 6, Dec 1999)