Rabbits' Feet & Snakes' Eyes

Roll the dice
     I let it ride on rented hopes
So I end up staring snake eyes
     once again, like every time--
Tried charming cobras;
          bit instead.

Rabbits, they can't run quick
     When their feet have been removed.
Can't buy much with lucky pennies
     when your hope stones sink the boat
          Kept on swimming.
          Started sinking.
          Bolting for that little hole.

But serpents' bodies, long and thin,
     having advantageous shape
     and possessed of curse-born quickness
Are not wont to go away...

Past all guards and wards they slither
So, shivering, watch them pass
Right past all your best defenses
Good luck charms gave in to chance.

Seek and Settle

"What now?"
"Who knows?"
It's a call-back chorus
In the Church of Hard Luck.
Groaning Sunday morning
Follows night time service
And I guess these habits'll
Just keep getting stronger;
We'll call it "Communion."

Not getting any younger
Hungry eyes break fasts on X's
Spitting up our best intentions
Choke down regrets

Beneath suburban skylines
     putting on their blacks
We're just a couple kids
     rambling over cracks
          in these sidewalks--
talk to city streets.
But the boulevards never seem to speak
          so what now?

"Here goes"
"Once more"
Hit dirt off and running
A short distance stumbling
Toward familiar comforts
For to treat our symptoms
Poor man's analgesics
Start to get expensive,
Grip our empty pockets.

Not getting any smarter
Tired eyes X'd out and ashen
See us re-up on declension
Swallow results.

Beneath suburban skylines
     putting on their blacks
We're just a couple kids
     rambling over cracks
          in these sidewalks--
talk to city streets.
But the boulevards never seem to speak
          so what now?

I'm not
     pouring for no reason
You're not
     making peace this season
We're just
     taking loans for leases on time.

So with these urban skylines
     fading grey to black
We're just a couple kids
     retracing old tracks
     in cold sidewalks--
through the falling sleet
As the boulevards map out our retreat
          to locked doors.