Josef Gisela, Austrian
“I’ll Take the Chiefs To Win. Oh, and What’s the Over/Under on Taylor and Travis Making Heart Hands At Each Other During the Game?,” ca. 1888
Oil on panel
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Info, and perhaps links that point to more info, about this artist can be found in his German Wikipedia page (Google translated if necessary).
/// Here the Lottery Sisters are queued
to buy lots on a purse that accrued
to a tidy cash prize.
They must economize
to afford them. They buy cheaper food.
/// The first woman in line starts to grin.
She is sure that this ticket will win.
Her addiction to gambling
sets her fancies to rambling:
When I’m wealthy I’ll ditch all my kin.
/// In this Empire that’s Austro-Hungarian,
she’s petit bourgeois (near proletarian).
If lotteries pulled in
a few million gulden,
she’d soon turn anti-egalitarian.
/// All these lottery players made plans
for when winnings will fall in their hands.
One ought not base finance
upon such games of chance.
Just ask F. J. one (Emperor Franz).
/// When to gamble on lots you begin,
it’s insane to assume you will win.
You’ve bought days of delight
in the prospect you might.
But reality later sinks in.
/// There are gamblers who drop huge amounts,
but that’s something they’ll never announce.
In truth, you cannot lose
if, to play, you don’t choose.
That’s a big win that nobody counts.