One Out of Six
Who among you is brave enough
(or dumb enough)
to take the challenge
Bet your life to beat the odds ...
One out of six
Load the chamber with one bullet,
spin the cylinder,
spin it good
Place the wager with a reputable bookie
Everybody’s dying to see you lose,
so take your pick ...
One out of six
Click
The odds just got narrowed five fold
Are you still in,
how bad do you wanna win?
Up the ante,
you tell the gore seekers looking in ...
One out of five
Click
Again you made it out alive,
but the odds just got shaved that much more
Now the empty chambers are down past four
Any stout souls still wanna place another bet,
up the vig ... get the payoff set
You don’t care much about living or dying right now
The only thing you wanna see is the chambers spin,
you got a death wish to win ...
One out of four
Click
Everybody’s now getting spooked,
they think you got the devil on your side
They are so afraid of you:
after you slammed the gun down,
and said let the money ride
Wager board says the odds are now cut in half,
there’s so much cash in the pot
The whole crowd is wondering,
are you insane enough to take another shot
Thick suspense is suffocating them ...
One out of three
Click
You’re walking past the graveyard
with a wicked smile now
Sheer luck that you still got
your brains intact somehow
Now it’s a fifty fifty
hot spin of the chamber wheel
There are only two open holes,
two more chances to seal the deal
So many done cut their losses
and got out of the game
Russian roulette makes mice out of men,
thus it was given a most death-defying name
Somebody still wanna see you die,
and are willing to walk away flat broke
You raise the stakes so high,
as you take a final cigarette smoke
Light is the gun in your hand,
heavy is the tension in the room
The spinning cylinder seems to
turn forever
When it stops, you press the gun to your head ...
One out of two
Bang!
Everybody thinks you’re dead
But there’s a fluke chamber backfire,
and you’re still alive instead
You can’t hear yourself think
from the raucous roar of the din
Everybody’s looking at you like you’re Lazarus
coming back from the dead again
Quickly there’s a hush
as the house does an inspect reset
You gather your courage once more,
and greatly up the bet
Only one person wants to challenge you,
to put their money where their mouth is
You down a couple of whiskey shots,
and give a nod to a wide-eyed teenage kid
As the spinning chambers come to a revolving stop,
you see dark visions of your gamble plagued life
You see everything you ever did that wasn’t right,
as you squeeze the trigger,
you look into the bright ceiling light ...
One out of two
Click
There’s one final spin left to take,
but nobody got enough money to make you quake
Nobody can make you put that gun to your head again,
nobody can force you to take that final, fatal spin
You breathe a sobering sigh of relief;
and collect your earnings,
giving an unaccustomed heavenly thank you
While everyone leaves out,
some muttering: lucky bastard, who knew?
You start your new life on borrowed time,
vowing that your gambling days are through
It would appear the odds are now favoring you
Copyright © Freddie Robinson Jr. | Year Posted 2017
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