Checkmate
EvilToasterElf
Posts: 1,119
From A Soapstone Chess Set in a small town museum
Three Centuries encased in glass
Back and forth they roam the colored landscape
Armies locked in stalemate
Carved from Wedgwood forests
Rooted to the battlefield
Monarchs stare stately over the world
a head taller than the bear eyed bishops
mouth open with weary prayer
to the flanking royal knights
whose war horses leap cannon fodder
circling one step right for every two forward
Soapstone castles peer through the parapets
with granite tunnel vision, unable to
comprehend the angles of battle
The trembling blue eyed gods shake
in preparation
each shadowed movement mirrored
in daylight
It is the geometric perfection of war
faceless strategy
which orders the poorest soldiers
two steps ahead
and the king
one step behind
Three Centuries encased in glass
Back and forth they roam the colored landscape
Armies locked in stalemate
Carved from Wedgwood forests
Rooted to the battlefield
Monarchs stare stately over the world
a head taller than the bear eyed bishops
mouth open with weary prayer
to the flanking royal knights
whose war horses leap cannon fodder
circling one step right for every two forward
Soapstone castles peer through the parapets
with granite tunnel vision, unable to
comprehend the angles of battle
The trembling blue eyed gods shake
in preparation
each shadowed movement mirrored
in daylight
It is the geometric perfection of war
faceless strategy
which orders the poorest soldiers
two steps ahead
and the king
one step behind
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