Leader

May 29, 2008 - 21:41 PM PST

An amber ant marches.
He follows
the river crack in checkered marble
on chess board abandoned in a pasture.
Direction among these daisies
are North-south and East-west.
The amber ant marches
across black squares scorched
by sunshine and victory.
The cool pattern of deserted
white has shadows:
pawns on their backs,
rooks scattered,
bishops on their knees.
A queen’s tears are puddled dew
and frost
at the foot
of a black king’s throne.
She hunts for a black knight,
a face smudged with soil
and gauntlets that grip the head
of a chalky king,
checked.
while the amber ant marches
and waits
for a king in gray
to follow through the daisies.