Chess

Once again my friends threw me words such as chess, fetch, wind, gumboots, chromatic, Friday, indelible, messiah and departure for a new poem. This is how it goes:

Chess  

Warns the white pawn

“I'm coming for you.”

The black pawn cowers

A rook and a pawn

“Where shall I go now?

If I stay here, I die

If I move, I'll be gone.”

And so he falls,

a soldier lost

Without a fight,

A soldier dies.

White triumphs

Black's vanquished.

This game of chess:

Of small victories

And many defeats,

Of focus, concentration,

Endless conversation,

Of Friday evenings.

The silent wind

The light showers

A pair of gumboots

An umbrella to fetch.

This checkered life:

Of indelible histories

Of many saviours

messiahs, mysteries

Of unannounced arrivals

And early departures

Of narrow minds,

their chromatic perceptions.

This game of life

Like the game of chess

Squared and complex

A matter of survival.