WE are living a game of chess, dear May -- For the prize of the Better Life we play. The wonderful world is our chequered board, And our hearts the box where the pieces are stored. The evil one has ever been Our foe, and uses our faults for men. There's the Black King Fear and the Black Queen Pride With her bishops Envy and Spite beside, And his knights are Malice and Deceit, His castles Stubbornness and Hate, And for pawns each little idle sin, That trusts to its smallness to creep, creeps in. But on our side the white King, Will, And the white Queen Love, march conquering still. Her bishops are Honor and Purity, Her knights are Kindness and Charity, And for castles staunch and strong and fair, Courage and Constancy are there, And the little pawns to be given away Are our little kindly acts each day. Sometimes a wily foe is met And the wavering will is sore beset; But we do not fight quite all alone -- There comes a quiet whispered tone, An unseen touch that seems to fall In answer to the faintest call, And lifts our fingers tired and lame, And points the move that wins the game. In dazzling day or blinding night God ne'er forgets us in the fight; His glorious angels will abide If we but clasp them at our side; The hand that beckons them is Prayer, And Faith the clasp that holds them there. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THANATOPSIS by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT TO THE NIGHTINGALE by JOHN MILTON THE BELLS OF LONDON by MOTHER GOOSE TIPPERARY: 1. BY OUR OWN JAMES OPPENHEIM by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS SONG OF THE FLOUR-MILL by EDWIN ARNOLD A POEM FOR THE SEFIROT AS WHEEL OF LIGHT by NAFTALI BACHARACH THE DEBT by KATHARINE LEE BATES |