THE DIE

The die lies still, supported by edges and corners of perfect math,
Its pure, peaceful form seduces me into concealing my wrath,
Although its creamy, white, cubic body rests upon my path,
It’s a solid whiteness under a pattern of ebony dots,
And the blots of melanism blanket the die in circular shapes more perfect than any marital knot,
But as if lured into a plot, the die wiggles and starts rolling,
Its edges and corners make clatters as it jiggles and keeps on going.
 
It keeps click-clacking along the ground, bouncing randomly to the rhythmic sounds,
And slows down within a gang of gazing gamblers as it spins around,
The die lands on two when its energy goes down, 
Then hears the instant “Boo”s and sees the immediate frowns,
But the gambling and rolling soon resumes, as if nothing mattered,
And I hear, once again in a flowing tune, those rhythmic clatters.
 
I also hear, within a game set and mahjong table, multiple clatters of other objects,
Yet the die, hidden in the corner so still and stable, has not finished its job yet,
And as those mahjong objects line up along the table like soldiers,
The little die is dragged and rolled along the table like a crumbling boulder,
Then it is pushed back into the corner where it can sit and rest until it molders,
While those mahjong objects start to scatter, and I hear once again, those multiple clatters, 
Clatters that, unlike the die, never grow older.
 
I finally hear, as well, the clinking of coins and ka-chinging of machines in what may just seem,
To be the air and atmosphere of a more outrageous scene,
One of scrambling gamblers and wheeling dealers in a Las Vegas scene,
And the die is alive among the lively cries and vivacious screams,
It is alive as it moves rapidly among the dreamers of these rapacious dreams.
 
Yes, I guess it moves along, day to day, with its worn-out essence,
Listening to what the players say, and it’s almost deafened,
And though its corners, which point eight ways, are having their acuteness lessened,
The die still rolls, then slows, and lays, exposing a number always smaller than seven.