Snakes & Ladders

All games have morals; and the game of Snakes and Ladders captures, as no other activity can hope to do, the eternal truth that for every ladder you hope to climb, a snake is waiting just around the corner, and for every snake a ladder will compensate. 
- Salman Rushdie 

Life on a board
years neatly sorted
in square colorful blocks

Destiny is a dice
rolls at random
the minimum sometimes
saves a life
the maximum
death in disguise

two players start
a cordial game
win or loss
just the same

holding hands
at every fall
sarcasm, cheating
they laugh it off

gradually life happens
every defeat bitter
bruises on the ego
now linger

love an endless wait
at a lonely corner

fangs & footholds
Snakes & Ladders