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From ''Dreamtigers''<ref>From ''Dreamtigers'' published by University of Texas Press © 1974 Jorge Luis Borges</ref>

I

In their grave corner, the players<br />
Deploy the slow pieces. And the chessboard<br />
Detains them until dawn in its severe<br />
Compass in which two colors hate each other

Within it the shapes give off a magic<br />
Strength: Homeric tower, and nimble<br />
Horse, a fighting queen, a backward king,<br />
A bishop on the bias, and aggressive pawns.

When the players have departed, and<br />
When time has consumed them utterly,<br />
The ritual will not have ended.

That war first flamed out in the east<br />
Whose amphitheatre is now the world.<br />
And like the other, this game is infinite.

II

Slight king, oblique bishop, and a queen<br />
Blood-lusting; upright tower, crafty pawn&#151;<br />
Over the black and the white of their path<br />
They foray and deliver armed battle.

They do not know it is the artful hand<br />
Of the player that rules their fate,<br />
They do not know that an adamant rigor<br />
Subdues their free will and their span.

But the player likewise is a prisoner<br />
(The maxim is Omar's) on another board<br />
Of dead-black nights and of white days.<br />

God moves the player and he, the piece.<br />
What god behind God originates the scheme<br />
Of dust and time and dream and agony?

==References==
<references/>

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