The Gambler.

Youth allowed the freedom to gamble on the future

And spend freely the coin of love and laughter,
And then one day we awoke to find the purse was

Empty, and no coins of happiness and frivolity remained.

Instead the dreary currency of ‘grown-up’ filled the wallet,

And notes were spent on children, and home, and the trappings

Of married life.
Where had the laughter gone?
Where was the fun, the romance, the devil may care?
Slowly the dreary funds were spent, and the unexpected

Moments of sparking joy, the jewels of can be,

Placed a few coins back into the purse,
And as the wallet emptied there was hope and a future

Once more.

Until, until, until - 

The currency was not good enough, and was rejected,

And sent back, with demands to pay in more sober kind.

Condemned for wanting to laugh and frolic, and censured

For daring to think that life could hold pleasure still

If one did not have the cash to pay.

And once again cast back into the days of youth,

But this time with no coins of love or laughter to spend,
Only the sick certainty that every mouthful depends on the 

Charity of others, and that very existence is seen

As an insult to those who have kept their wallets full.

• - - “You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em
  Know when to walk away, know when to run” - - - 

(c) 2ndwitch, 01/09/13