Card Trick

watched the slow pulse
of the air as it moved through you,
leaves shaken and stirred like the tumble
you've grown used to.

i know you've given me the best of you
and i haven't been blind.
i'm playing cards with a foreign hand,
the dealer smirks, the threat of house victory
flashes over me,
but i don't fold.

my play isn't the ace i have kept hidden [there are many],
but in how i handle all the two's and three's. it's how i play the game.
i have a smirk here too,
the dealer doesn't see it yet.
and this is not a game, i warn.

i've watched you weather my storms and cascades,
and it's a growing gale sometimes,
and sometimes not.
you learn to deflect. i learn to calm the seas with a
whisper.
i know i've got a little magic here,
it flickers.
i've got the surest sign of nothing on my face,
and the dealer can keep his smirk.
i'll take his house down,
brick by brick,
card by card.

the tumble they'll grow used to.