Do me a favor and have the guts <br />To show your face <br />Lay your heart upon the table <br />Not hidden up your sleeve <br />Waiting for the chance to <br />Cheat <br />The hands you’ve not been dealt. <br /> <br />The fan that blocks the beating of your lashes <br />The made-up beauty of your seemly look <br />Is but a temporary obstruction <br />The dissembling of a mean intention <br />Is not so easy to mistake. <br /> <br />In the backrooms of your mind <br />An upstairs bed awaiting <br />The dash of the stranger <br />Boots to the floor <br />May succumb to the whim of indifference. <br /> <br />But the holster laid upon the nightstand <br />Carries the bullets of love’s lost cause. <br /> <br /> <br />(Previously published in The Underbeat Journal, July 2003)<br /><br />Laurence Overmire<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/card-game-2/
