Dunsany’s Game



Dunsany! Was it not enough to dream
of elfin things, to conjure with finesse
the siren songs of crystal quinquiremes
caressed by Neptune? No — you mastered chess
as well, and gave the world a fresher game
as fey as all your tales of gods and wights.
The chessic realm has never been the same
since then — godspeed to you withal, good knight.

First move is Black’s. For him the handicap
is not so clear, his phalanx is the norm
for chess. But White’s a spider with a trap —
four rows of pawns advancing in a swarm.
Black’s surely is a herculean chore,
to capture every pawn before — before —

Copyright © 1997 by Keith Allen Daniels.

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