"Puff-puff"
Passes the hookah's
Smoky, cloying round.
Roulette clouts, and
"Ace of Space!"
Under barmaid's shouts.

Slid face-down
Across the bar,
A Unioner persists,
Wits beside them dead,
Draft-brandished fist.

Green velvety table,
Polished bone dice,
Crunchy cigar ash,
Rats rummaging
In gamblers' trash.

Low-talk deals,
And crooked sums,
Dust-light flickers
Amid tapping thumbs.

Pull-cord, pull-cord,
Hanging on the wall,
One sharp tug-
The backroom calls.
Curtains shift,
A shadow grins,
Luck walks out,
And trouble in.

The wheel spins,
And lantern sways.

"Double down,"
The dealer hums,
Someone laughs-
Then silence comes.

The ball hops red,
Syncopated pace-
A horrid scream,
An ice cube's clink,
Heafty pouch of coin.

The shady lady
Dressed in lace,
Slips into the shadows,
Shedding borrowed face.

Elyon winks.

Penned by my hand on the 25th of Phaestian, in the year 1001 AF.