Fate’s Game

She plays by her own rules

Far short of war, or the shifting hands of restructure

Fate rules by fear — the fear that makes one avoid another,

that freezes, divides, orders and arranges

that holds silent, and compulsively speaks

that strategically hides, and erupts unexpected

proud, pissed, focused, paranoid, private, public

wearing the mask, now ably, now badly —

creeping Iago, ugly Richard III

Fate has no trouble using your cunning

she restricts your moves to the curbed chess horse

limited in movement, checked in power

grabs you by the neck, grinds you in the mix

your bitterness and grit make a strong coffee

you are a prisoner of war anyway you spin it

without even the courage or right to speak your imperious lion’s truth

Fate has you hostage under her iron hand

you wish it weren’t so, but Fate intends your regret

is she a sadist? no, she just has larger fish to fry

than your petty needs and personal whims

your little ambitions and lasting vendettas

she hardly knows you exist, and wounded pride doesn’t concern her

you are not the first to feel cheated and robbed by

her seemingly arbitrary ways, her favoritism and bad taste

don’t expect an apology, let alone an explanation —

her laws are her own, and her reasons defy logic

it isn’t Hegel’s dialectic, nor even the game of Go

Far short of catastrophe, or the dramatic suicides from bankruptcy

Fate rules by anxiety — the stress that eats souls from within

© Carlo Zeno 2023

“It would seem that our actions have lucky or unlucky stars to which they owe a great part of the blame or praise which is given them.” — La Rochefoucauld

“The power of fortune is confessed only by the miserable, for the happy impute all their success to prudence and merit.” — Jonathan Swift

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