Week 3 Maya

Seriously depressing Maya but you asked for it!
Day 3 of the poetry challenge, and thank you again. ..

Just Desserts

A lifetime dreaming dreading the big time
Counting the costs yet courting,
Till you've run the course nonchalant
The chips are down but not your courage
Broad shoulders have taken care
Of those who needed you
To lean on
Early strength derived from instinct
But the wear and tear
The fade and burn of years
Have taken a toll
Of far too many worries and cares
And courage lost
In the narrowing zig zags
Of zero predictability.

One vital exam abandoned
A stressful job deserted
Soon the will corroded
Dull grey gold flakes of cuspian rust
Cover and choke aspiring flames
You see even the master material
From which steel is derived
Needs alloying
And then is it indeed stainless,
Without early care in handling
Without the allowance to let a child
Be one
An adult cannot be made.

So
Just desserts for the deserter
In this high stakes game of
Life
Having bypassed the second
And third arterials
Mistaken too many chance opportunities
For a risk and gamble,
Now nothing left to gamble
And everything left to win
But my chips
Are worthless.

© Amrita Valan 2015