Oh Yes It Beats

"He deals the cards as a meditation
And those he plays never suspect
He doesn't play for the money he wins
He don't play for respect"

The game is won or is lost in measures
the eyes can mask what hand he really plays
deeper in until he can't cease playing
may never quit his addictive ways

"He deals the cards to find the answer
The sacred geometry of chance
The hidden laws of a probable outcome
The numbers lead a dance"

The competitors adjust or remain stone
to not show a give away gesture
whether bluffing or hold firm
as if the predictor of human behavior
the angst of money makes weak hearts squirm

"I know that the spades are the swords of a soldier
I know that the clubs are weapons of war
I know that diamonds mean money for this art
But that's not the shape of my heart"

Will said "all the world's merely a stage" yes
the crust of culture can be refined
heady in circles and wine and exhilaration
capable of blowing more then the mind

"He may play the Jack of diamonds
He may lay the Queen of spades
He may conceal a King in his hand
While the memory of it fades"

I know that words are an instrument of deadly precision
I know they can lacerate through any skin
I know that deceit the gets one out of a big hole
But that's not the fiber of my soul

"And if I told you that I loved you
You'd maybe think there's something wrong
I'm not a man of too many faces
The mask I wear is one"

The trail of lies gets only longer
and takes a master to keep them straight
if there real is a litmus test for heaven
how does one ever get past the gate?

"But those who speak know nothing
And find out to their cost
Like those who curse their luck in too many places
And those who fear a loss"

So if we part don't think so harshly
for I realize I have done wrongs
never intended to cause emotional fractures
just wanted someone to hear my songs

"I know that the spades are the swords of a soldier
I know that the clubs are weapons of war
I know that diamonds mean money for this art
But that's not the shape of my heart
That's not the shape of my heart"


Lyrics courtesy of Gordon Sumner (Sting), "Shape Of My Heart"