The Brave Bachelor

We gambled that night

With the flesh of our forearms

So raw and pressed 

Against the dining room table.

I came home to you

That night not quite

As drunk as you

Wanted me to be,

So guilt could have

Freed you from the mask

of a tired sun and

An empty shade of green.

We threw off our sheets

That night in our bed,

Burning our future hell

And sweating out our fortune.

Smoking slow on the porch

That night spent speaking

To west coast ghosts

And family abandoned,

While waiting is the game

That doesn't end with death

Unless you have the courage

To make it your own.