Jackpot Dreams left me with nothing

Jackpot Dreams left me with nothing

It started with the shimmer, the shimmer and the shine,

The velvet buzz of neon, the roulette wheel divine.

A drink, a laugh, a lucky streak—my heart began to pound,

The coins poured like a waterfall, a kingdom newly found.

I danced with queens of diamonds, I kissed the face of fate,

Each chip a whispered promise at the dealer’s silent gate.

I saw the world in flashing lights and never looked behind,

The thrill became my compass and reason lost its mind.

The nights grew long, the pockets thin, I chased what slipped away,

The jackpots turned to phantoms that mocked me when I’d play.

I sold my past for credit slips, my name for one more spin,

And gambled down to nothing but the echo of my sin.

Now I lie in doorways hollow-eyed beneath the city’s hum,

My palace just a cardboard box where yesterday won’t come.

Still dreaming of the sirens in that ever-blazing room,

Where fortune smiled and vanished—and left me to my doom