Vicissitudes

Vicissitudes of fortune occur to everyone.
At the very best of times, they snuff out all your fun.
You find the perfect dress and shoes then find that you are cursed
with a hellacious haircut that presents you at your worst.

Neither fame nor fortune is a perpetual state.
The only constant for each one is that they will abate.
You hop up on the carousel and grab the golden ring,
but can’t hold on forever to any precious thing.

Luck ebbs and flows like tidal waves, advancing and departing—
an ending just as sure in life as every action’s starting.
So get used to life’s vagaries, for you may be sure
that they are the only things certain to endure.