Hedging Bets

Roll the dice
and know that  it is a chance you take
to hedge your bets on a single event
or  a person you have come to trust;
maybe even love,
as you flush out the truth
of each moment.

Extract the words
that build up the walls,
that create barriers,
that get in the way of a simple exchange
of lupine, or lilies, or maybe even
peonies.

Flowers don't exclude or redesign language
in the same way that chance does.

And yet, here we are,
placing our luck in one small sacrificial plate,
placing all suffering
in the drawer with the Bible
next to the bed in any lodge
where travelers will rest
their weary heads.

Here we are
counting on the sturdiness
of someone who looks you in the eyes,
tells you the truth all the time,
and gambles on numbers
and the source of the universe
and finds solutions
in seeing what is left
undone.