Go all the way. Roll the dice.

and inhale cigarette smoke
and the whores and the bartenders and the grocery clerks
never know that he’s in there
there’s a bluebird in my heart that wants to get out
but I’m too tough for him
I say
stay down, do you want to mess me up?
you want to screw up the works?

you want to blow my book sales in Europe?
there’s a bluebird in my heart that wants to get out
but I’m too clever, I only let him out at night sometimes
when everybody’s asleep
I say, I know that you’re there
so don’t be sad
then I put him back
but he’s singing a little in there

I haven’t quite let him die
and we sleep together like that with our
secret pact
and it’s nice enough to make a man
weep
but I don’t weep
do you?

(and the progression…another by Charles Bukowski)

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.

“Roll the Dice” by Charles Bukowski from What Matters Most Is How Well You Walk Through The Fire

(thank you dear brother Charles!!!)

Here is a fun reading by Bono: