this is how it often goes
i've been in practice now
for over fourteen years
each year blends into the next
a slow roll - slower for
some than others. each
calls. the calls do little
to speed time: resets: so
many resets; pawns sacrificed
no real move. no check
or even mate. just laughs
and stories and clicks on
hard marble floors. benches
of woods hundreds of years old
how many has it been now
for me - hundreds, i believe
each with their story & loss
carefully balanced in the back
of the mind. rarely do i give thought
the one given twenty gives me
pause: life enters and he fades
a check to mate was what that
was. others pass like tiny flames
when i die and i will die: each loss - out
weighs the wins. and to the one
who got that last chance: i often
want to call, forgive his debt so
he can call me: expand on how life
matters
