“The past is found in the captured pieces, or if available, the score sheet or the player’s memory, the present is the position before you, and the future is in your head not your hands”- Michael Angello Purcell
“It’s hard to tell what defines this game more;
The tension between the players,
The tranquility,
Or better yet, the apprehension amongst the opposing pieces.
What’s important though, is that the board is set and everyone’s ready.
All that’s left is to ace the game.
The start.
I’ve done this many times before,
But it seems all new to me each time.
I very well know the tricks of this trade
But I still get all feverish and nervous before a game.
They call it butterflies, I call it caution.
Precaution
Besides, no two games are similar.
Each game has its twists.
Each piece, its secrets.
Each player, their tact.
The player.
The player calls it a game but we all know it’s not.
It’s a fight.
It’s a fight for survival.
A constant struggle to live and outlive.
It’s a fight for recognition from the player.
A constant struggle to do the player proud.
The game.
There’re many of us in this game.
It’s a fight.
I insist.
Look at how we’re all lined up
Doesn’t this look like a battle field?`
Doesn’t it?
The pawns all lined up as if in a parade?
As if on a battle front?
Aren’t the king, queen and all other significants right behind us?
Aren’t they all safe from danger?
Aren’t they?
The chessboard.
It’s a battlefield scenario,
With WE pawns on the front line,
Easily susceptible to attack by the competition.
What message does it send?
That we pawns are less important?
That it’s okay to lose us?
That it’s okay to put our lives out for others?
Does it mean that we’re least valuable?
That the game can almost do without us?
I beg to differ.
I choose to speak for they that have no voice.
To speak out for they that the player holds in least regard.
In this regard,
I move that we’re indispensable.
That we’re powerful beyond measure.
I move that we’re especial
Because we have a 2nd chance at life on the 8th rank.
I move that we’re golden
Because we can grow into what we want to be.
But what does a simple piece like me have to say?
I’m just a pawn in this game of chess.
I’ll call it a game,
This once, to appease the player.
There’re too many of us on the Battlefront
So what would make me different?
What would make my opinion count above the rest?
What would make my moves any more significant than theirs?
I’m many things, like you say,
But I’m NOT just any other pawn.
I’m the pawn that’s the SOUL of the game.
I’m the pawn that forms the attack and the defence
Better still, I’m the pawn that’s a potential queen.
I’m that pawn that fellow pawns look up to.
The one that sticks to their place, Until time is right to move.
The one that doesn’t nudge even at the slightest provocation,
Unless it’s a nudge in the right direction.
I’m that pawn that dares to be different.
That pawn that doesn’t move because everyone’s moving.
That pawn that doesn’t party because everyone’s partying.
But still gets to hi-5′ at the knights conquer
I’m that pawn that makes calculated moves.
The pawn that plays with tact
Even the player respects my choice to stay put
Because the game’s too short to make careless strides.
I’m that pawn that lasts till the end of the game.
There’re not many of us who do.
Many fall to the pleasures of the world.
Others are too easy a conquest for the competition.
But I last.
I, too, get to laugh last.
Because I didn’t listen to their mockery.
Because I didn’t heed to the calls to the fast life.
They thought the game was too short to be too careful.
They laughed at my seemingly boring life
While mistaking my caution for naivety.
They knew not,that my prudent ways spurred vitality
I’m that pawn that crosses over to the competitors side unharmed.
Many other pieces can cross
But only we pawns can cross and grow.
No wonder crossing over’s a big deal in our world
Because we get to be most powerful when we do
I’m that pawn who crosses over and wins the player a queen.
I treat the king to a new queen,
And he who finds a wife, finds a good thing.
I’m that pawn whose worth the player appreciates
Because I represent growth,
The game can’t BE without me
Because I am the soul of the game
So i will play on
Tread carefully, move tactfully
Love cautiously, and be reasonably uptight
I will ‘pawn’ on…
Until I find a prince worthy of my Queenship
But who knows; maybe you’re right.
Maybe I’m just a pawn.
Maybe I’m that pawn that can’t look you in the eye
Heck, maybe I’m the pawn that only
Knows how to play but never how to win…
But so what if I’m all the above?
I could be a pawn in many things,
but in THIS game of Chess,
I’m not JUST a pawn.
I’m that pawn that dares to be
different.
I’m that irreplaceable pawn.
🙂
“The older I grow, the more I value
pawns”- Keres
