23 Ordibehesht 1405
Quatrain 49 of 75
“'Tis all a Chequer-board of Nights and Days
Where Destiny with Men for Pieces plays:
Hither and thither moves, and mates, and slays,
And one by one back in the Closet lays.”
Reflection · Spring 1405
The Chequer-board in spring is set up fresh — the pieces placed, the new game beginning, Destiny making its opening moves. The spring piece moves forward, moved by the hand it does not see, into the spring squares that the board provides. Khayyam introduces this verse even in spring because the game is always underway. The spring feeling of freedom — this is Destiny's spring opening. The pieces move with exuberance. The hand is light.
But the closet is at the edge of the board. Always. The spring piece plays in full view of it, on the side of the board that is still all light squares.