Consequence: A Passed Pawn’s Perspective
Constant battles, daring warriors,
The supreme King stands tall
in between darks and brights
he builds a game, to enthral.
.
The Queen advances fearlessly, all along;
raves with her fiery finesse
She is explicit and never wrong.
Of strength and elegance, coalesce.
.
Obliquely moves the Bishop,
succeeding the ladder that led
to gallops over other pawns,
with the vigilant Knight leaping ahead.
.
Rook shields the vulnerable,
bold and unswerving it moves;
And the rest of us, relatively unskilled
ensure that patriotism grooves.
.
I’m the first one to walk
two squares, in a check-boxed row;
Insecure but self-effacing,
as the battle commences, with the flow.
.
Our Knight gallops forward,
the first one to decimate a pawn;
The Bishop follows suit
slaying one of ours; ambush drawn.
.
The battle, unabating so far
takes a turn for the worse;
The Knights go down, a bishop
and a Rook too died with this verse.
.
Eyeing, Her Majesty intervenes,
safeguarding, at the helm
executes her nemeses,
the ones taunting her realm.
.
His highness, now in check,
the Queen’s plot now at a halt.
In retaliation, they strike her
and down she goes, valiant.
.
Near the opponent stands I,
despondent I am of the loss.
Yet I fail to concede defeat
discreet and hidden, I stay across.
.
Advancing each square,
the eighth — I strive to reach.
Fearless, unafraid to fall
duty-bound, as I’ve always preached.
.
For I’m content to be a sacrifice
to extricate the Queen,
to claim what’s rightfully ours
satiated; for I’ve served my mean.
This poem was written in collaboration with Sangeetha and Naman Karn.
