I'm sorry
About the chess board
When all of those pieces
Blue and tan pawns and rooks and queens flew
Rolling across the floor
Under chairs and desks
I could see your face in my mind
The chessboard you'd had for fifteen years
Hitting the ground with a loud clack
I knew it'd be disappointment
Of all the things to choke me up
That might have been the most ridiculous
But along with everything else all I could think was
I can't believe you're actually leaving
Somewhere up north
Where no one will find you
I cannot believe
This is the end
I stood in the spotlight
A poem in my hand
Instead of the stand right before me
I slowed my pace and read all the words
Just as you'd told me
Your face had lit up when I told you I was entering
The same way it lit up when I won the game
For the first time
You'll take the owl off the board
And off on that adventure
Will it hang in a different room in some other place
Or tossed away?
The owl king who
Is part of a story you never got to hear
One that I don't have time to tell
Will you talk to them in that British accent
When you are telling stories?
Will you tell the same stories that you told us
Will you teach those who listen how to really hear
Will you play the guitar for them too?
Will you band together a room full of outcasts
Who have stories to tell
The way we do?
Will you remember our stories that we shared with you
And will you read those poems you took from me?
Will you remember us?
Maybe then you'll settle down
Maybe that's where you belong
I'm sorry that there was so much I had to say
And never did
Because I'm better at writing than I am at talking
All of this I thought
As I picked the king up from the floor
