@2I@1 PLAYED at chess with Lasker, but to lose, Beaten from the beginning; yet the game Wavered awhile in seeming, and no shame Possessed me. It was mine to check and choose, To marshal, menace, try this sudden ruse And that side-ambuscade, with hope aflame Hailéd to be as he that overcame, The laurel @3once@1 at least not to refuse. Vainly! He sat before me patient, still, His dark eye searching out each secret plot, And by his brooding, stern-compelling will The game was guided, though I knew it not;— Yet find I strength in failure as in strife: As I played Lasker, so I challenge Life! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PASSED BY by JOHANNA AMBROSIUS MARIA MINOR by MARGARET AVISON MY GARDEN by KATHARINE CANBY BALDERSTON NATALIA'S RESURRECTION: 31 by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT ODE by ANNE CHARLOTTE LYNCH BOTTA |