One said: Thy life is thine to make or mar, <br />To flicker feebly, or to soar, a star; <br /> It lies with thee -- the choice is thine, is thine, <br />To hit the ties or drive thy auto-car. <br /> <br />I answered Her: The choice is mine -- ah, no! <br />We all were made or marred long, long ago. <br /> The parts are written; hear the super wail: <br />"Who is stage-managing this cosmic show?" <br /> <br />Blind fools of fate and slaves of circumstance, <br />Life is a fiddler, and we all must dance. <br /> From gloom where mocks that will-o'-wisp, Free-will <br />I heard a voice cry: "Say, give us a chance." <br /> <br />Chance! Oh, there is no chance! The scene is set. <br />Up with the curtain! Man, the marionette, <br /> Resumes his part. The gods will work the wires. <br />They've got it all down fine, you bet, you bet! <br /> <br />It's all decreed -- the mighty earthquake crash, <br />The countless constellations' wheel and flash; <br /> The rise and fall of empires, war's red tide; <br />The composition of your dinner hash. <br /> <br />There's no haphazard in this world of ours. <br />Cause and effect are grim, relentless powers. <br /> They rule the world. (A king was shot last night; <br />Last night I held the joker and both bowers.) <br /> <br />From out the mesh of fate our heads we thrust. <br />We can't do what we would, but what we must. <br /> Heredity has got us in a cinch -- <br />(Consoling thought when you've been on a "bust".) <br /> <br />Hark to the song where spheral voices blend: <br />"There's no beginning, never will be end." <br /> It makes us nutty; hang the astral chimes! <br />The tables spread; come, let us dine, my friend.<br /><br />Robert William Service<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/quatrains/
