7 Mordad 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 · Summer 1405
The summer Chequer-board is at mid-game — pieces have been moved, some have been mated, some slain. The summer player is deep into the game now, the endgame not yet arrived but visible in certain configurations. Hither and thither in summer — the moves are faster, more consequential, more clearly part of a pattern that was not visible in the spring opening.
One by one back in the Closet — summer is the season when you notice that pieces you knew from spring are gone. The board is somewhat reduced. The game is still full. Play on, moved by the hand you cannot see, in the squares as they come.