11-05-2025, 05:41 PM
Winning the lottery
Everyone who's ever lived won a lottery,
even those afflicted with scabies,
even Edgar Allan Poe, dead of rabies,
even Hypatia, killed by pottery -
all of them were lucky. Every plague victim,
and those that were killed in both wars,
even William the Conqueror, whose pommel nicked him,
and Laika, amongst the stars.
All of them were born, an improbable feat
amongst trillions of possibilities.
From stardust to amino acids, molecules to meat,
trilobite to office worker always ill at ease -
rejoice, for you're lucky, improbably lucky,
down your gimlet with a twist of lime.
Death's inevitable, decomposition yucky,
but toast your forebears fortunate and plucky
that you've lived through this slice of time.
Everyone who's ever lived won a lottery,
even those afflicted with scabies,
even Edgar Allan Poe, dead of rabies,
even Hypatia, killed by pottery -
all of them were lucky. Every plague victim,
and those that were killed in both wars,
even William the Conqueror, whose pommel nicked him,
and Laika, amongst the stars.
All of them were born, an improbable feat
amongst trillions of possibilities.
From stardust to amino acids, molecules to meat,
trilobite to office worker always ill at ease -
rejoice, for you're lucky, improbably lucky,
down your gimlet with a twist of lime.
Death's inevitable, decomposition yucky,
but toast your forebears fortunate and plucky
that you've lived through this slice of time.