The · Devil · Plays · Poker

You're a card player, you're a card player
but don't let it go to your head
you're my son and I'll always love you
you mark these words that I've said

You're a card player, damn good card player
but don't be an unkind man
or your mother won't be here for you
if you ever come home again...

And I'm on a winning streak
and my luck's never gonna break
just take and take and take
and never lose a dime...

He's a card player, damn good card player
and he took me for all that i had
I live on the street now, outside of his house
he says there's nothing wrong with that

he's a card player, he's a card player
but i know he's an honest man
he has a kind heart and a heartbreaking smile
and a bluff like my mother's loving hands...

And I lost another one
Riding it all on one dumb hand
I guess that's my last call
go home before you lose it all...

he's a card player, he's a card player
but he's always been my true love
he's a gambler, and a liar,
but never to me or his family

he's a card player, damn good card player
but like everything that too will pass
and when he comes home, after the bars
he know that he owes it to me...

I'll have just one more drink
A whiskey for the road
no more cards, deal me out
I've gotta be heading home...

Lost in darkness
Comatose
Dead to all this
World I've known

I see it coming
The night's been so long

Dreams of darkness
Red on black
Souls of bad men
Coming back

I see it coming
The night's been so long
I see it coming...
Breaking dawn

Evil visions
Souls corrupt
The Devil's mission
Sold for dust

Living fiction
Fantasy
True religion
Inside me

But it's finally over
The night's been so long
I see it coming...
Breaking dawn

Asleep but dreaming
Life in death
Alive and screaming
In my head

Awake to sunlight
On my bed
Ghosts and echoes
Things they said

But I see it coming
The night's been so long
I see it coming...
Breaking dawn

I see it coming
The night's been so long
I see it coming...
Breaking dawn

Breaking dawn

E
nter Barkeep, pianist, sullen drunkard and whores

BARKEEP:

For twenty years it seems
I've been haunted by these dreams
The fear, in circles, streaming down your face
For twenty years it seems
Been haunting spirits' dreams
A bitter sting upon your tongue's embrace

A little girl upstairs
Holds tight a teddy bear
And cries out loud her father's name
Her mother runs inside
Her baby girl to find
Fast asleep inside her bed's embrace

Enter Chorus of DEMONS and WOES
Smile as you fall
Let the devil in
Let the cold into the room
Become your saving sin

Smile as you fall
Welcome to devil's inn
Stay as long as you want
And become your sins

Once here I heard a man
Caught in his own bedlam
Cry out his savior's name
Sweet Jesus, come for me
Oh Lord, I just cant see
Your Light, your Guiding Flame

And none would come for him
He'd long been forgotten
And his God was none to speak of here
So he forgot the prayer
You see him, sitting there
Welcoming you to Neverwhere

Smile as you fall
Drink the devil in
Iced whiskey and the taste
Become your saving sin

Smile as you fall
Welcome to devil's inn
Drink up all you want
And become your sins

O here's miss juliet
Long lost her romeo
A righteous death had they
Two lovers side by side
Two sinners' suicides
Never they meet again

Smile as you fall
Here's your saving sin
Let the fear envelop you
And you'll be welcome in

Enter LUCIFER
Smile as tonight
We'll have a number of guests
Let's all look alive
Cos they ain't dead, just yet...

Blow a kiss to my grave
If you remember my name.
Lay some flowers down
If you remember the sound
Of my voice.

And you know I promised to dance with you at your wedding
But I guess I'd forgotten to take into account
All the love I'd been waging, all the souls I've been betting
And old scratch is collecting, so I've gotta leave town



It's a dead man's hand: eights, aces, and spades
It's a loaded gun pointed dead in your face
It's a lonely visitor, a lonely grave
It's the last stop before you're the blind man's slave

Dark sunglasses on a hold 'em dealer
Round about the table, only liars and cheaters
The spirit's getting lower, and the blinds are getting higher
And the card kings' smiles just keep gettin wider

I'm down and out
So deal me in
All I've got left is the grave or the flame

There's only one winner, and it's winner takes all
A thousand years of life, to delay the fall
A thousand years to win, and you got nothing to lose
And the table's always open for another young soul.

A warm smile spreads across the Hangman's face
A grin of false teeth with a poisonous taste
The scars on the palms of his upturned hands
Will never cover up his sins

I'm down and out
So deal me in
All I've got left is the grave or the flame
I'm lost and lonely
So deal me in
Cos all I've got left is a poker face

I feel my head getting lighter
and my body's gettin weaker
and my numb little fingers
can barely hold this hand

And I'm losing it all
to dark sunglasses
17 shades
of shady men


I'm down and out
So deal me in
All I've got left is the grave or the flame
I'm lost and lonely
So deal me in
Cos all I've got left is aces and spades





Pocket-handed aces, And a river full of blood
7 hearts buried with 10 spade-fulls of mud
They buried my baby, but she'll come back from the grave
to deliver me from tyranny, aces, and spades

Deliver me from evil, aces, and spades.



The Hangman nods his head to the man at the bar
And leaves some crumpled bills on the table top
"For your trouble, Señor, and a good evenin to ya"
And he turns his back and heads out the door.

You say that you love me
You tell me I'm the best
And I don't know what to say
So I just smile

You've been so down lately
...Out of sorts
You haven't been around lately
Out of touch

...And out of time.

Your health is waning
Like the last full moon
Your life is fading
Years too soon

And you always say
Come my wedding day
You'll be there, holding my hand.

I've been trying to stay up late
To see you come home some night
But lately it's been getting colder
I awake to a glance of your shoulder

Your life is fading
Like the last full moon
Your love is leaving
Years too soon

You always say,
Come my wedding day,
You'll be there, holding my hand.
And you always say
Come my wedding day
You'll be there to give me away.


Disappearing up the stair
A dream from my eyelids arises
There looks to be nobody there
And I sleep again

golden dresses
and silverwhite garlands
the best band for miles
familiar smiles
singing and dancing
and colors and lights
a mother and father
a groom and a bride

...blood, blood
pours out of your eyes
And the parson
is lucifer's
shrouded disguise
the church in flames
the wedding bells chame
and silence

And you always say
come my wedding day
You'll be there, holding my hand.
And you always say,
Come my wedding day,
You'll be there to give me away.

And you always say,
Come my wedding day,
You'll be there, holding my hand.
And you always say,
Come my wedding day,
You'll be there to give me away.

Never take a hand
Dealt by a blind man
Unless you're sure you've got nothing to lose.

Never see an inside straight to the end
Never bluff blind, never raise your friends

Never try to remember the cards in your hand
Never bet something belonging to another tougher man

Never let the ladies linger
Or look at your cards
Never try to steal a glance
At another man's hand

They'll shoot you blind for walking in here looking like that
They'll kill you on the spot for having something to lose

Keep a twinkle in your eyes
And a wrinkle in your smile

And try to make friends with strangers

Because a man making friends with stranger men
Is bound to show his hand

And show a buck or two
to a wiser better hand

And there's nothing that poker loves more
Than a new rich idiot who likes it from the bottle


So wise up, and tough up, and don't deal from the bottom
And you'll make it soon enough, they'll all be begging for your luck

And remember that rules were meant to help

But never hesitate
Situation permitting
To smash them all to tiny bits.

And pick up the pieces, and poker chips.

The Devil Plays Poker:

It is a story by Christoph Alexander Whitbeck.

All of the work herein is protected under copyright laws.
Plus, all thieves go to... well... you know...

The Devil Plays Poker, all characters, songs, and poetry are
COPYRIGHT 2007 Christoph Alexander Whitbeck.



PLEASE feel free to share your thoughts on my work. I am open to any thoughtful criticism.

The Devil Plays Poker is currently a work in progress, and will remain as such for some time.
I just hope you enjoy these words as much as I do.



And now, to give credit where credit is due:
The character of The Hangman inspired by Al Lisi's poem "The Hangman's Ballad"



PS - I'm not yet sure if this ought to be friends only.
I will keep it open for the time being. This may change in the future.