Card Game

  Losers or winners, dealt to diminish;
       Their fate is set, to end, to finish-
Calamity befalls, a lie to uphold-
        A challenge of a lifetime, a sight to behold.

A deck, a line; a correct guess impossible-
        Failure to comply, apply, reply; unforgivable...
You decide the rules, simple or strict or none-
       But you must faithfully obey, before the game is done.

Cheat all you want; leads you nowhere-
        The smell of one's fear, strongly over there-
Riveting and frightening, this little card game-
         Between life and death; this is not the same.

You can't choose to live, or to die,
        You won't know unless you try - - -
There are no hints, no clues of your becoming fate.
         No memory, no record, no script, no written date...

Rooted to the spot, trembling, all knows clear,
         The way they can't choose, driven path they steer.
Controlled, like puppets with strings without freedom-
          Either they writhe with hunger, fear or boredom.

This is the inexorable demise of life's card game...