It means one thing with work

something else with age and so on

through all its catenations.

The windows close at post time.

The bets are irrevocable.

The blight of losses has become

too much to bear.

 

But this is America.

Everything is on the block.

Like the prison yard,

it’s all about territory,

everyone wants to be the Rooster.

 

The narrative’s theme is haphazard

but there are the Favored who

give it a direction.

They draw lines precise as glass cutters,

though the line between acquittal

and absolution is not always straight,

and God’s own time

leaves us guessing to the end.