Delphi stopped playing
with the lives of people who sought her advice.
She remembered moving stick figures
around a national game table.
The stick figures always stood straight—
never bent by earthly concerns.
She made them so they would not
display weakness
while in pursuit of what they thought
they wanted.
Fake it until you make it—
or something similar in Agamemnon’s Greek.
She knew the futility of aspiration
without self-knowledge.
She knew no chess piece asked to be moved
from its rank or file.
copyright © 2022 Kenneth P. Gurney
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