The Last Game of the Master Domino Player
Wrote this a while ago in the same week I experienced a tragic and personally devastating loss, the loss of my grandfather. This poem was a tribute to him and it won't be the last one I have to post out of my backlog. There were a few spots back then and last year I was not in a good place and it might show in some of my writings, just want to give that little warning now with the benefit of hindsight on things to come. Anyway, this tribute has a lot that comes with it but I think it still serves the same function of telling a little bit about the hard loss of a man who shaped me in so many ways and is adequate at least. I still miss a lot. Originally posted and written December 2020
The Last Game of the Master Domino Player
By: A.X. Bueno
Plop!
The first domino is placed down on the table and the game begins
The master domino player takes in his options and makes a move seemingly confident he'll win
But his opponent is strong and well known for their comeback
This opponent goes after the elderly and is viscous in their plan of attack
The master domino player though, he's stubborn and for his age quite strong
This game, it's guaranteed to be painfully long
The wise old domino master, he watches the opponent make the first move
Starting off with an average double three from the opponent
They both settle into the game's slow, methodical groove
Both of them making strategies and trying to reach that critical victory moment
For this is for the last game for one of them and they both know it
They're both careful and calculating with their moves trying to block the other one's moves and also not to blow it
For a while they play their hands of 7 and pick up more pieces when needed
Neither wanting to be defeated
It's a valiant struggle and they both play hard
But in the end it's the old domino master who gets hoisted on his own petard
He was stubborn to the end even though he realized halfway into the game that he would be defeated
But he couldn't not fight this opponent, this challenger had to be greeted
Sadly the opponent was not only wise and strong but they also cheated
In the end the old domino master was destined to be outclassed and his life deleted
The stakes were known and the opponent sadly at the end of game won all, that sickly harbinger of death made the inevitable call
The master domino player, till the end he lived up to his reputation as a good man and was loved by all
His tragic and hard fought against loss leaving his family from sisters to grandsons to sadly just bawl
At the end of the day there are only keepsakes and many now bittersweet memories to recall