Champion pitted against champion:
King vs. King

The ant steps forward to meet his
mortal foe,
pincers held high and pride in his
six-fold step.
The tribes are at war over food and
possessions -

and both crushed alike by the sudden
scuffle of a
warrior fighting for his life.

Back home, he has a wife and children,
and a promise that he'll see them
once again;
but now his promise to his king
is being tested, on the metal of
an enemy's blade,
and all his life is flashing like
a lightning storm ahead.

No less driven by that same fear,
but glad it is not
his turn
to taste the incarnation
of it,
the other man advances, and they
clash their swords -

"Checkmate, my boy."
+++

All the world's a stage,
and all the stages worlds.

The pieces have no frame of reference;
for them each moment is
truly life or
death
played out in a hundred different
possibilities.

(Stakes are only as high as they are believed to be.)

So set your stages carefully,
ant, farmboy, king, or god -
each dance upon their own stage,
and each one rules his world.
+++

And so his king fell, thumping on the
checkered board, laying down a
checkered past of expediency,
hasty decisions, and a mind unused
to strategy.

"Next time, grandpa.                  
                              I'll beat you next time."