Poems on Falcon chess: Chess Morality II: Revelation

Chess Morality II: Revelation

Open the Book of Chesse thereof the seal
And read the way the six-piece game unravels:
The masters of the citadel conceal
The seventh piece gleans lines the future travels,
As if some gable held the Falcon's powers
Or else encrypted by four cornered Towers.

Rook and Bishop, Knight and Falcon merging
Pieces of the present-day expansion,
Caissa inquisitioned just for urging
Admission of new members to the mansion--
As Nature's four known forces in this world,
So chess fabric's quadrangular unfurled.

Unscroll the board, listen to the clatter--
One fell swoop and seven-piece game recourses
Opening theory eighty spaces shatter,
Players' falling back on their resources
Second nature e'er must be improving,
Like a flash of inspiration moving.

Wherefore beholden to the rote didactics?
The rising draws the river's slow enfolding
Precurse the swift return of natural tactics --
The end begins the game, no defense holding
So sharp as abstract surface's endless spire
Or deep as mental labyrinth's inner fire.

Strange new waters, stones unturned betoken
Existences unknown and more profound,
Trail beyond mere Reason's verdict spoken:
Henceforth this realm shall Caissa be unbound,
Delivered thus from her medieval fetters
By alphabet writ of just seven letters.

Chess Morality II: Revelation

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