The Devil’s Bones
A pecuniary necessity.
We sat side by side in the pub,
how he acted didn’t make sense:
he appeared to be depressed,
distraught, downcast and tense.
I asked him what was the reason
and, quite surprisingly, I found
that, as his business had failed,
he was down to his last pound.
Wishing to redress the balance
he acted soon, didn’t think twice;
threw discretion to the winds
and had a go at throwing the dice.
He discovered a high-risk game
which was called Seven-Eleven;
his luck changed, won large sums
and he was in seventh heaven.
It was a miracle to get two sixes
time after time, but that he did
by shaking and rolling two dice
and with the stake of one quid.
Prior to using the devil’s bones
he had fallen for a very old trick:
in exchange for unlimited luck
had to grant his soul to old Nick.
© Luigi Pagano 2021
A cautionary tale, eh? I had completely forgotten that term ‘devil’s bones’, Luigi. 🙂
Allen
P.S. Typo alert = Penultimate stanza first word: Think the r should be a t.
Thanks for pointing out the typo, Allen. Easy mistake to make as on the keyboard those two letters are adjacent.
there has always been an uneasy feeling when I held dice .. I had no idea they are called the devil’s bones.
nice one Luigi.
They were so-called because in old times they were made of bone or ivory and that they would lead gamblers into temptation and ruin.
Thanks for reading and commenting x
Nice one Luigi, and I too hadn’t connected to the devil’s bones – connected? The knee bone’s connected to the thigh bone……..Anyway, as Allen say’s – a cautionary tale!
We are repeatedly told by all and sundries to exercise caution!