Secret Moves

The chess game's moving slowly
and the taken pieces wait,
and wait, it seems, for ever
for those welcome words 'Check Mate'.
(You soon get bored on boards where
No More Action is your fate.)

'I'm feeling pretty hungry,'
says a small pawn to a rook.
'That's no surprise,' the rook replies,
'You were the first man took.
We don't have to wait for dinner,'
he suggests. 'Let's go and cook.'

Of course, there'll be a banquet
once the final move's in play,
but for chessmen, bored and hungry,
there can be no more delay.
'For food and drink and nourishment
praise be!' the bishops pray.

So pawns and rook and bishops
set off in eager haste,
and soon are busy cooking food
to suit each chessman's taste.
Now a knight arrives to join them,
thus nothing goes to waste.

Then, appetites all sated,
these chessmen fall asleep,
so, when the White Queen's taken,
they fail to hear her weep.
(That's her own little secret,
and a secret we shall keep.)

poem © Celia Warren 2011

This is the lastest in my series of story poems about the chessmen. You can find earlier adventures below:

The Chessmen's Holiday

Chessmen in the Garden

Fool's Mate

Wedding on the Chessboard