Cards

Life has no guarantees,

But we like to pretend it does.

I like to imagine I can organize all my cards

So that their alignment makes a perfect hand.

But so often I find I have dropped a card,

Chosen to lay one down at the wrong moment

Or failed to lay one down at all.

And sometimes I save the Ace

To play at just the right time-

Planning and plotting and envisioning

The minute when that win will pull me through.

Yet despite my planning, life can still pull the table out

From under the game I thought I played.

And so now I find myself

Picking up pieces that have fallen to the ground.

I look for meaning within this mess of ideas

That were once propped within a plan.

I reshuffle my card deck

searching for a new pattern

To help me find exactly who I am.

Life has no guarantees.

But I certainly like to pretend it does.

—Written by Sandy Heights