Another Day

Another day, announced the birds 

in non negotiable verse, sharp tools

to cut you from the sack of your sleep

and nick you just enough to feel the pain.

You break into the light of your next turn.

Then you must remember -

Who you are, your place within the game.

Which square are you standing on?

Works days, malleable hours

to enjoy - or are you lost?

Which monsters lie ahead,

or are you dragging grief?

As the pieces near to you

were taken in the coldest blood,

off the board, forever out of range. 

Do you dread the next level?

Snakes can lie in wait, 

ladders loom, will you climb

so many tiring rungs to reach the top?

Unstable are the winds up there,

you’ve seen so many fail and fall.

It’s so hard but you have to try

and gather things along the route;

small rewards and all the penalties and flaws.

But at the end, everything

is taken off the board

and packed away into the dark.