The Games We Play Poem by Ananta Madhavan

A Dutch thinker, Johan Huizinga, wrote a book, ‘Homo Ludens',
Before the world war began in 1939.
His was a fine intuition, for he saw our species
As players in the game of life;
Whether in love or strife, with words or swords,
With glances or lances, billets-doux or flowers.

Rudyard Kipling's ‘Kim' celebrates a Tibetan monk
Trudging on private pilgrimage
In the high Himalayas and parched Gangetic plains,
To learn of Buddha's Truth, the Great Game and the Secret River.
A far-sighted genius, Albert Einstein believed
That God, whatsoever He or She or It could be,
Does not play dice with us. Hindu sages long ago
Spoke of ‘leela' and ‘kreeda', the games we play.
The sporting kind accept the rules, abide by them.
The umpires and referees are presumed neutral.

No cheating, please, we are a sportive species.