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The whole idea that the king is never actually captured in chess smacks of monarchism, some kind of kowtowing to the idea of the Divine Right. I'm almost surprised France or the United States didn't come up with some variation that made a big point of removing the king from the board as loudly and obnoxiously as possible.

There's that Italian proverb, "After the game, the king and pawn go into the same box." A nicely egalitarian thought, but one that doesn't really hold up as it applies metaphorically to people... the pawn goes into a plane pine box if that, and the king goes into some kind of ornate mausoleum, and beyond that concrete difference, the pawn is likely anonymous and forgotten after a few decades, while the king's legacy lives on one way or another, and has a name that'll be written down on a list forever.

Well, not that the (now dead) king notices.

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Image of the Moment

--I'm not one to go OMGSOCUTE -- squee!!! but... OMGSOCUTE -- squee!!!! The teacup is so perfect. (via cellar.org iotd)

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Poetic Revamp of the Moment
So as a followup to yesterday's poetic work, I googled up this weird variant:

You are my bright and happy summer days. Wait! Summer's beautiful, but full of doubt. You smile like sugar sweets, but never stay. Sometimes you make me want to scream and shout! Laughter is first than comes great disaster. From warm to cold will you not stop my pain? Unfair misery bitterness matter. Why do I love you so? This is so lame! And when we change, you always give reasons. Open my eyes to see the world of truth. So why do I compare you to seasons? You are too strong for death and full of youth. So help me I plea save me from despair! Yet I still love you like no other compare!

It's signed Sin-Jin and I saw it on this guestbook. It takes the rough structure and some of the lines from its source, but then is more of a "Lover's Complaint" than a bit of praise. Still, as a bit of an authority on homebrew love poetry I gotta say... ugh.