The Game of Life

10 March 2026

https://poems.culturing.net/2026/03/10/the-game-of-life/

Manhood is no myth, not some fabled caricature
of what men (or women!) dream. It has really
been achieved, more than once, although
it is painfully rare. Can we really do better
than fate, the lotteries of genes and circumstance,
to dish out the stuff of heroes? For every man
has a bit of the hero, a bit of the rascal and rogue.
Most are followers. This will forever be so. But a few
become paragons, going their own way, just because
they know better, somehow. Even they can't explain.
Without them we are really in trouble, in chains
in one cave or another, attempting to win at some
made-up game, instead of playing the game of life itself,
the only one worthy of our attention, the only thing
that can satisfy human beings. A hero is called
to this game with unbreakable energy, and will see it through
at almost any cost. The others will follow. It's what they know.