Deliberation

Sometimes deliberation is calm,
but at times is not,
not always easy to control.
Not what you want
when something important
is at stake.

Rather like a snake 
that by nature is conditioned to biting
when afraid or angry,
or, also, possibly hungry.
And snakes are hard to control,
if you’re not a charmer…

as I am not,
so try to avoid most snakes:
copperheads and rattlesnakes, of course.
Ribbon snakes, in fact, I don’t mind,
even kept one as a pet.

They do not live long. 

What I most fear? 
Momentum that cannot be stopped,
that suddenly gets out of control,
is not self-constrained.

Something terrible is likely to happen,
usually regretted;
ever after, is impossible to explain.

So you merely shrug,
admitting unexpected defeat
You don’t have to smile,
but it isn’t something you forget. 

You write in blood your own record, 
maybe check off experience to learning,
hence, take more care 
in preparing, 
imagining the impossible
that just might happen. 

It’s a skill you learn;
but it also becomes a power.

So you learn control,

plan the agenda for any event,
determine who is invited
and who will come,
the order in which they’ll show up,
making life a game. 

Life is partly in your control and partly not. 
Surprise may order the day.

Life is finally a game of chance 
to control if, indeed, you’re able: 
yours to win or, possibly, to lose,
just something given.
You own it because you’re in it.
It’s not truly yours.

Life belongs to every creature 
on this earth.
So, of course, there’s struggle,
but sometimes it can be a shared struggle.

By birth, you may give what you have 
by choice or luck.
That’s the greatest gift you can give.
But there is much else you may give.

What that may be depends on who you are

and what you choose to be.