On a warm summer's evening, on a train bound for Norway, I met up with a gambler, we were both too tired to sleep, so we took turns a-staring out the window at the darkness, till boredom overtook us, and he began to speak, he said, son, I've made a life out of reading people 's faces, and knowing what the cards were, by the way they held their eyes, so if you don't mind my saying, I can see you're out of aces, for a taste of your whiskey, I'll give you some advice, so I handed him my bottle, and he drank down my last swallow, then he bombed a cigarette, and asked me for a light, and the night got deathly quiet, and his face lost all expression, he said, if you're gonna play the game, boy, you gotta learn to play it right, cause you got to know when to hold up, know when to fold up, know when to walk away, know when to run, you never count your money, when you're sitting at the table, there'll be time enough for counting, when the dealing's done, every gambler knows, that the secret to surviving, is knowing what to throw away, knowing what to keep, cause every hand's a winner, and every hand's a loser, and the best that you can hope for, is to die in your sleep, and when he finished speaking, he turned back toward the window, crushed out a cigarette, faded off to sleep, and somewhere in the darkness, the gambler, he broke even, but in his final words, I found an ace that I could keep, you got to know when to hold up, know when to fold up, know when to walk away, and know when to run, you never count your money, when you're sitting at the table, there'll be time enough for counting, when the dealing's done, you got to know when to hold up, know when to fold up, know when to walk away, and know when to run, you never count your money, when you're sitting at the table, there'll be time enough for counting, when the dealing's done, you got to know when to hold up, know when to fold up, know when to walk away, know when to run, you never count your money, when you're sitting at the table, there'll be time enough for counting, when the dealing's done.
