Game Playing
by Odin Roark

There was this time…

When his drunken ambition
Made him take a seat at the table,
Ante up his meager self,
Bet with stakes he didn’t have,
And hold his “dare you” stare for luck.

There was this time…

When joining the game
Meant playing by the rules,
Winning a few,
Losing a few,
Walking away once in a while.

And like his shadow forever stretching
Across his personal walled-in self,
The one possession he hadn’t pawned,
All vanished.

He sees different now,
20/20 honesty having risen.
The games no longer appeal,
Someone else’s rules no longer matter,
Winning has lost its luster,
And his inner-solitaire provides.

Occasionally…

He wanders out from his world,
The honest one,
And peers at the fashionable one,
Remembering there was a time
When that was him,
The someone they dared to win,
To play out life's game their way.

Returning to his discovered home,
Being who he really is
Not someone they said he was
Is…

Well…

Truth just keeps getting better.