not binding upon you..............

               To Luck

In the cards and at the bend in the road 
we never saw you 
in the womb and in the crossfire 
in the numbers 
whatever you had your hand in 
which was everything 
we were told never to put 
our faith in you 
to bow to you humbly after all 
because in the end there was nothing 
else we could do 
but not to believe in you 
still we might coax you with pebbles 
kept warm in the hand 
or coins or the relics 
of vanished animals 
observances rituals 
not binding upon you 
who make no promises 
we might do such things only 
not to neglect you 
and risk your disfavor 
oh you who are never the same 
who are secret as the day when it comes 
you whom we explain 
as often as we can 
without understanding 

-W. S. Merwin