Letter to Fortune

Dear hand that shakes the cup
and rolls the dice out on the table,
what is the luck of the draw today?
The trees stir their bagfuls of newly-
minted green. Somewhere, water tinkles
like silver. Even the hairs on your chest
are brushed with copper. Put on your crisp
white shirt, snap on your black bow tie, do
up your cummerbund and tails; and deal.
I never said I’d stopped playing. High winds
rearrange the clouds, having learned too
about this game of chance: your turn now
to guess which one is hiding the sun.

 

In response to an entry from the Morning Porch.

3 Replies to “Letter to Fortune”

  1. I never said I’d stopped playing. /… your turn now/ to guess which one is hiding the sun.

    A SONG OF TWO GAMES

    1. Game One

    “Quick, guess where the pebble is,
    and if you do, you will be happy!”
    What if this were the only wager
    in a game of chance of opening
    and closing a cup over a rolling
    pebble, not unlike the hide-’n-seek
    the sun plays now with clouds
    darting hither and thither with
    winds blowing from all directions?
    Will you take it? Will I dare?
    What have we got to lose,
    one way or another? I hold
    your hand and you squeeze mine,
    a signal to choose the arrant hiding cup,
    and voila: I miss it. Happiness, too?

    Happy is as happy does: you are
    with me to roll the dice. Would I care
    willy-nilly where happiness lies?
    Under the cup where the pebble
    has custody of nothing, least of all
    my joie d’vivre — you, my love,
    who will be my ransom should I
    lose this game of chance?

    2. Game Two (After a Letter to Fortune)

    “Quick now, guess now: high winds
    rearrange the clouds, having learned
    too about this game of chance.
    Which one is hiding the sun? Which?
    Mind the wager: if you fail this test,
    should you pin the tail on the wrong
    side of the donkey, or choose poorly,
    you will keep on guessing all your life
    whether or not you can be happy.”

    Happy is as happy does: you are
    with me to roll the dice. Would I care
    willy-nilly where happiness lies?
    With you, my love, neither wind nor
    cloud will hide the sun. You are my sun.
    Should I choose madly, choose badly,
    what of it? I never said I’d stop playing.

    —Albert B. Casuga
    04-17-11

    1. Spell checks, please: (Posting pronto does this to me :–[ )
      In line 8 of “Game One” that should read: darting hither and thither with…
      In Line 3 of “Game Two”, please drop one of the repeated “about”.
      Thanks, Dave. A la prochaine on the porch.
      (Posting these, too, in my blog.)

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