by Carl Sandburg (1878 - 1967)

Crapshooters
Language: English 
Somebody loses whenever somebody wins.
This was known to the Chaldeans long ago.
And more: somebody wins whenever somebody loses.
This too was in the savvy of the Chaldeans.

They take it heaven's hereafter is an eternity of crap games
   where they try their wrists years and years
   and no police come with a wagon; the game goes on forever.
The spots on the dice are the music signs of the songs of heaven here.
God is Luck: Luck is God: we are all bones the High Thrower rolled:
  some are two spots, some double sixes.
The myths are Phoebe, Little Joe, Big Dick.
Hope runs high with a: Huh, seven—huh, come seven
This too was in the savvy of the Chaldeans.

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Text Authorship:

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

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Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Alfred Czach (1904 - 1967) ; composed by Bernhard Rövenstrunck.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2024-03-04
Line count: 13
Word count: 122