End Game Poem by John F. McCullagh

The chessboard is patterned in onyx and white.
Yellowed ivory are the pieces she plays.
The King is in Jeopardy; her options are few;
Death's Jet pieces are against her arrayed.
Her opponent is fearsome; a skeletal fright,
enrobed in a caftan as dark as midnight.
Each move she makes falls before the plan
of the specter's outstretched boney hand.
As she pauses to ponder if her next move is wise
Her spectral opponent assumes a new guise;
"it's your move, Dolores." Her opponent now said
in the guise of her husband, some twenty years dead.
By now almost all ivory pieces are gone,
leaving her only her King and one pawn.
She moves to defend but no chance can be seen
in sending a pawn out to battle a Queen.
Once more her opponent assumes a new face;
Her beloved lost Daughter assumes her Dads place.
She has fought long and hard; long past hope of gain.
Now draining fatigue saps the strength from her frame.
"Mom, it is time to resign without shame;
None can deny you gave Death a good game."