The Chessboard
By jlidgee
The Chess board.Chess in a trance, a deep surrenderof consciousness, my pieces moving as if by themselves,mechanically, without minds, dying one after anotheras so many beings just not caring what happensuntil there is only my king left facing a legionand when I think of kings I think of blind men runningdown to cliffs above leaping white-haired seas,a patch of insanity spreading over the brain- enter the beautiful logic of suicide in cold wind;but he has lost control of death, and for a moment I stop and look hard at the board,sorting through the chaos of the black-gowned figures,morticians each one, the dreams of the roomintently floating, and suddenly it seems so hopelessand so unbearably sad, as if all the griefof the universe had come to rest here in the eyesof my defeated pieces lying on their sides;but I play it out all the way, like biting fingernailsdown to the bloody red ends,and I feel as if I have fought a battle for the worldand lost. Written October 7th, 2001 © on Oct 07 2001 03:29 PM PST 18 • 0 • 1
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"The Chess board.Chess in a trance, a deep surrenderof consciousness, my pieces moving as if by themselves,mechanically, without minds, dying one after anotheras so many beings just not caring what happensuntil there is only my king left facing a legionand when I think of kings I think of blind men runningdown to cliffs above leaping white-haired seas,a patch of insanity spreading over the brain- enter the beautiful logic of suicide in cold wind;but he has lost control of death, and for a moment I stop and look hard at the board,sorting through the chaos of the black-gowned figures,morticians each one, the dreams of the roomintently floating, and suddenly it seems so hopelessand so unbearably sad, as if all the griefof the universe had come to rest here in the eyesof my defeated pieces lying on their sides;but I play it out all the way, like biting fingernailsdown to the bloody red ends,and I feel as if I have fought a battle for the worldand lost...."