contingent

on Brink of Doom Sam watched as Gollum danced
eye-witness to the passing of an Age
when Gandalf's plans all turned on this one chance
beyond the best foreknowledge of the sage
the fate of MiddleEarth's in Shiva's hand
which is to say it's indeterminate
un-numbered possibilities like sand
mind-boggling vast, if not quite infinite
then wave-functions collapse and deed is done
and Frodo's digit has been sacrificed
what armies couldn't do, was done by one
although it had come to a roll of dice
on such contingencies of war and strife
we tread unthinkingly and call it "life"