There is no board.
No black and white.
No turns taken in silence
with a clock watching.

No clear enemy.
No perfect strategy.
No queen to protect,
no king to trap.

People do not move
in straight lines.
They stumble,
circle back,
get lost.

Some begin in the middle.
Some never start.
Some never know
they were part of something
until it's over.

There are no rules
that cannot be broken.
No winner
who walks away clean.

Life is not a game of chess.
It is spilled coffee,
a missed train,
a breath held too long.
It is reaching out,
not know
who will take your hand.

And sometimes,
it is just sitting still,
while the world forgets
what the game was
supposed to be.