win some, positive sum
The blue king saw it coming,
on the horizon this way rides.
But red king couldn’t be troubled,
with matters from outside.
This could be devastating,
muttered a red knight sliding right.
Who was not anticipating,
an enemy they could not fight.
You’re on your own against the beast,
the red king’s terse reply.
The game clock ticks, your turn to move.
We’ll never be allies.
Pawns fixed in place and stayed that way,
equally spaced apart.
The red king bid them move again.
They paid him no regard.
So red and blue across the board,
peered south and north in ranks.
The third king cut across them both.
By files he felled their flanks.
Rooks and bishops responded first.
Their queens did all they could.
Ill equipped, so many lost
in the fog of what they ‘should.’
The blue king wears a shirt and tie.
The red king prefers gold.
The third king’s crown, too small to see,
was eventually controlled.
By then the board was nearly cleared,
remaining pieces few.
In times of need nobody wins,
unless all kingdoms do.
