WINNING TICKET

He was a poor man
willing to put his last dollar
on the counter to buy
himself a lottery ticket

thinking this might be it
a little piece of paper
that will finally bring him luck  
filling his life full with riches and dreams

in the morning, when he awoke
touching the ticket inside his pocket
he found a morning paper to read the winning
numbers aloud, and nothing matched

feeling sorry for himself until when
as he walked down the street, dejected, he came across
another dollar bill to spend, he thought to himself, this is luck
how can it not be, the next ticket will be a winner for sure  

by Michael Perry