CHECKMATE!

 

Checkmate!

What would you say, if I suggested to you that life is one hell of a game, began with teams of players and continued to play till all the original teammates were dead?

No matter how you look around your once busy world, this place is getting lonelier.

My mind keeps on jumping backwards, painfully reminding me of my lost world.

Just the other day. I was going through my old photos, looking at these unforgettable pictures of my colleagues I shot back in our offices.

Why does it never occur to our minds to be observant of all the things we do and the way we do them?

Why does no one, ever look around and say, people, let us enjoy this day together as if it was the end of the world? This life is not a 200m dash race but a life-long marathon.

Checkmate!

It is life itself in a game of chess where we all play together as a unified team against life. We try our best to outpace life in exchange for length of days.

Sadly, one by one, checkmated by life. We lose out to life in the end, just as much as we get the joy of being alive!

When I was a child, I used to look into the eyes of my mother and see my entire world, nothing else mattered to me.

It is shocking how my world has shrunk over the years. Yesteryear as boys, we used to enjoy an eighteen-hour day where the sun never set.

Nowadays, it is a deafening drag. What else can life do? The womb and the grave: the greatest human retainers in life.

This game of chess where life regurgitates the old for the new.  What about these bodyless voices I hear and these empty chairs?

This is the order of the day when old memories of the new generation replace the old.

 Nostalgically, our slow withdrawal from life deceives us as if the world around us is changing fast!

Hello.

Life is a never-ending story which demands and requires more than one lifetime to keep on winding down endlessly. I lost my younger brother when I was five and my mother passed on three years later.

Checkmate!

Following, a Rainbow of our Dearly Departed.

William, Thandi, Thami, Linah, Lionel, Welcome, Kedi, Norman, Danisile, Grace, Nelly, Beatrice, Phuki, Delta, Theodora, Tryphina, Phillip, Philemon, Eunice, Makhulu. Mabel, Lucky, Ruth, Linda, Sydney, Kenneth, Lucas, Charlie, Sam, Losfy, Esther, Minky, Moses, Pumzile, Sthera, Lulu, Reginald, Dudu, Ntombi, Errol:

Forever anchored in my heart and soul!  I am eternally grateful for the sweet memories.

Occasionally, a forgotten face flashes pass my mind and sometimes, I see others in my dreams.

Rest in Peace and in Power, my Beloved!

 

Checkmate Nostalgia Written By: Sydney Pikelela Gutyungwa
© January 7th, 2025
Featured Title Song: A New Day
From The Title Album: Stay With Me
Smooth Jazz Artist: Michael Lington
© 2004


DISCLAIMER
ALL COPYRIGHTED MUSIC VIDEOS USED IN THIS BLOG ARE NOT MONETIZED BUT, USED ONLY TO HIGHLIGHT AND ENHANCE READING: POEMS, ESSAYS AND NARRATIVES OF THE AUTHOR. I DO NOT OWN ANY MUSIC COPYRIGHT: ALL VIDEOS ARE USED WITH DUE RESPECT TO THE ARTISTS IN FAIR USE MANNER!

 

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