Roll The Dice - One of Bukowski's Best

When I first read this poem many years ago, I interpreted the subject to be writing, and I still feel this to be the case, but having reread it recently, I am struck by the realization that the message Bukowski transmits here can be applied to almost anything and everything - an therein lies its simplistic brilliance.  

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"Roll the Dice" by Charles Bukowski
from What Matters Most is How Well You Walk Through the Fire


if you’re going to try, go all the

way.
otherwise, don’t even start.

if you’re going to try, go all the
way.
this could mean losing girlfriends,
wives, relatives, jobs and
maybe your mind.

go all the way.
it could mean not eating for 3 or 4 days.
it could mean freezing on a
park bench.
it could mean jail,
it could mean derision,
mockery,
isolation.
isolation is the gift,
all the others are a test of your
endurance, of
how much you really want to
do it.
and you’ll do it
despite rejection and the worst odds
and it will be better than
anything else
you can imagine.

if you’re going to try,
go all the way.
there is no other feeling like
that.
you will be alone with the gods
and the nights will flame with
fire.

do it, do it, do it.
do it.

all the way
all the way.

you will ride life straight to
perfect laughter, its
the only good fight
there is.