Life - What Art Thou?

Game of chance, tournament of sorrow and hope

Gamble for existence, happiness and wealth

Bearer of woe, chagrin and disappointment

Then again laden with joy, encouragement and merriment

Author of poverty, writer of riches

Bringer of tragedy, carrier of success

Secretive powers expressed in parables

A puzzle of time, endless in theory

Interpreted by few, lost by many

Years borrow and returned

Born of habit, died of necessity

Destroyed by evil, shortened by sin

Contradictory of Nature, truly patterned by faith

Matinee to paradise, prelude to the everlasting

Breather of perfumed goodness, expeller of horror

Hopeless; lost in the folds of wickedness

Tireless; centuries of despair

Ruthless; tortuous of character

What price "LIFE?" nay, what is life but sorrow?