Last Call

Quarter till two
turbid faces unveiled
with the flick of a switch

as the smokescreen clears
the drunk
the lonely
the tired
the empty
scramble to make one last move
before the game is over
hoping to capture a knight or a queen

as morning dawns
truths reveal
nothing but pawns

still in the game
only three players left...
CHECK
pride staves off imminent defeat
another pawn sacrificed
CHECKMATE
your queen wins again

and so I stayed and had another
pretending it didn’t matter
that you left
and
went home
with
her