The Crapshoot

Contest betwixt us friends had been common, Who is who? Who, here, is a true lawman? When two palms trees though compete to grow high, They do not crush the common plants nearby...! Don't, yet, serpents raise their hoods in anger? Don't their pique sounds, like gongs, often, clangor? Ladder and snake, a game we used to play, We win, or, lose none ever nothing say...! It's when we started our major business, Within us arose, like froze ice, stiffness; When he grew I fainted and vice versa, Body ached; heart bound; veins stood like bursa...! When I won he lost; when he won I lost; In our functions, yet, both had been one host; Like beet-root when I shoot he maintains mum, Like onions, I too empty at his numb...! 20 November 2022 THE CRAP SHOOT #2 Poetry Contest Sponsored by: John lawless