Fortune wears a thousand faces
Changes every time you blink
She dances through the open doorways
Never stays long enough to think
She likes a hand upon her shoulder
Likes a whisper in her ear
But she won’t promise you tomorrow
She only loves you while you’re here

You can chase her down the avenue
You can beg her to be kind
But she’s gone before you notice
What she leaves behind

Fortune keeps you breathing
Fame keeps you alive
One burns out by morning
One outlasts the night
Fortune laughs and disappears
Fame learns how to remain
One fades with the heartbeat
One survives the name

You can borrow luck like borrowed clothing
Wear it just to get inside
But fame weighs heavy on the backbone
Measures truth not just the shine
There’s no skipping past the hours
No reward without the scar
Fame is paid in unseen labor
When you’re wondering where you are

It counts the nights you stayed quiet
Counts the work no one could see
And it pays you back in echoes
When you’re finally free

Fortune keeps you breathing
Fame keeps you alive
One protects you from the envy
One from being erased by time
Fortune guards the moment
Fame defies the end
One dies with the spotlight
One refuses to pretend

The hunger for a lasting name
Is a fire not a plea
It comes from the better part of us
That won’t agree to disappear
It makes its saints and monsters both
Brilliance or disgrace
No safe place in the middle ground
No gentle way to face

Fortune asks to be invited
Fame demands to be earned
One is gifted by the weather
One is learned

Fortune keeps you breathing
Fame keeps you alive
One belongs to circumstance
One to the spine
Fortune leaves no witnesses
Fame leaves a flame
If something speaks when you’re gone
It wasn’t luck
It was your name

When the room goes dark and silent
Fortune slips away
Fame stays counting footsteps
Long after yesterday