The Losing Game (Poetry)

‘It’s better to have loved and lost’
(so never mind the crippling cost!)
and yet I doubt whoever said
those words got through the days ahead
and didn’t wish away the pain
then vowed they’d never love again

It is an almost fatal flaw
to stray in reach of love’s long claw
the creature may be soft of fur
and full of play, inclined to purr
but then it pounces and digs in
its prey the heart’s most tender string

So, caught and toyed-with for a spell
the first game’s heaven, then it’s hell
break-up, make-up — storms or sun
at last it’s over — dreams undone
emotions raw, thoughts inside-out
and plagued incessantly by doubt

To bet on love is blind and dumb
the promise cake, the prize a crumb
and all too soon that crumb turns stale
for life is not some fairytale
where happy-ever-afters reign
love is its cruellest losing game

*

The world rolls on, life doesn’t end
a new game starts called ‘let’s pretend...’