This Poem Motivates Me

“Roll the Dice” 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