**Charles Bukowski — Roll the Dice 1991**


**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, 
it's the only good fight there is.**