A Word On How To Deny Fate

There are Hollywood playwrights whose work will never find a screen.

and poets who never had a shot.

Great orators who never utter a word

There are songs that will forever be unsung and tunes never heard.

There will be paintings painted but never seen

and stand up comics who never find a spot

Woe to the talented ones, gifted by the Muse,

They are victims one and all,

of some ill suspected protagonists walking in and out of their lives on a whim, stalking and skulking about,

blessing some, and ignoring others from whom they pick and choose.

Alas, here comes Fate to destroy one and heap favor on another.

The Muse can make a man but he can be laid low by Fate her brother.

Wrong doors are opened and strangers overlooked, even never met.

A late train or missed phone call.

Some find their destiny by showing up at the right time and place,

but for others, their fifteen minutes of fame is written somewhere on a bathroom wall.

Someone misses the boat, oblivious to its coming or going.

For every winner there are ten losers who reap the doom that Fate is sewing.

But remember, wither amateur or professional in the biz,

The creative greatness of a song or poem or work of any kind

is not born on the wings of solicited oohs and aahs to find,

but established at its birth, before it is sung or read or seen or heard.

The greatness is not bestowed by some approving word.

A great creation is great because it is.

If Fate refuses you a nod, and chooses to withhold his smile,

Deny him any complaint that is due, the value of your work is demonstrated by God,

who painted some of his best sunsets and developed the sound of birds chirping

and the feel of rabbit’s fur before there were any men around to applaud.

But damn, having said all that, in the end, it sure would be nice

to get a little recognition just once on a while.

mikeb