Ruby and the dice
Ballad for Ruby and the Dice"
Angie, she whispered through cigarette haze,
The ghost of a name from my wilder days.
Under my thumb, I thought hearts would stay,
But wild winds never learn how to obey.
Paint it black, I told the sky that night,
When Ruby Tuesday danced out of sight.
She wore her sorrow like lipstick red,
And left my dreams tangled in the bed.
You can't always get what you want, they said,
So I drank to the dice and rolled love instead.
Tumblin’ dice down an old jukebox floor,
Each roll a prayer, or a closing door.
Wild horses couldn’t drag me back
To the innocence lost on that lonesome track.
Where honky tonk women sway and spin,
And hearts are traded like whiskey and sin.
Now I hum their names in the barroom light,
Angie, Ruby, and every midnight.
Chasing echoes in the songs they sung—
Still under my thumb, but forever young.
Let me know if you'd like it turned into a song or set to a blues rhythm!
Copyright © Mindi Madsen | Year Posted 2025
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