Pips and Bones

A game’s job is to give fun,
Says one. Or to show our fate,
Says the next. There. Fate and fun.

What else is there worth the guess?
Love and death fold up in both.
Throw the bones and lose your clothes.

Here’s what these words have to say—
Once you had us, we had you.
We helped you to hunt and tryst,

But our tales took and hid you
From the rip tides of the world.
We forced you to think like us

In a world that has no words,
That tells no tales. The bones helped
You find your odds. Cracked or thrown,

Cut or marked with counts as dice,
The bones broke you out of games
That lacked luck and gave you gods.