A Game - A Poem

Everything I have learned in life was taught to me by the cards.

We find ourselves facing an array of suits in all walks.

We stumble upon those we dub kings and queens, bemused and distracted by their majesty and station. 

We occasionally cross paths with a knave, and too often have our game spoiled by the unwanted presence of a joker.

There are tribulations in the form of the clubs, that beat us down, or we use to damage others.

There are spades with which we dig too many graves or use to bury our own misgivings deep underground. 

There are diamonds, often in the rough, but that last forever, and still sparkle regardless.

And there are the hearts. Those that stop beating. Those that break too easily in others or ourselves.

Now I study the hand I have been dealt. 

So many options.

So many variables. 

Yet we cannot know what comes next in the shuffle. 

I am left with no choice and no alternatives, and therefore I must go all in, with everything I have in front of me at this table, and all I have to offer.

You may choose to fold.

You may choose to call.

But tell me either way if this truly a bluff or a bold gamble where the prize is untold riches.

Kenny Rogers said it better, but I don't know when to hold 'em.