The Game Room Tom LaPille

Just through those doors there lies a cold and empty room. The floor, a wide expanse of shivering, dead steel, Is guarded watchfully by rows of ancient pillars. Tomorrow you will find in there a pulsing crowd That comes from miles around to play a childish game And have their dreams be crushed like so much cardboard. At eight the doors will open, banners made of cardboard Will lure the buzzing crowd into the fateful room Where they have come supposedly to play a game. But when they find themselves inside this cage of steel, The atmosphere will change. Throughout the milling crowd The smiling masks will fall like quickly crumbling pillars. And now the crowd sits down to play; the knowing pillars Feel the tension grow. The sound of shuffling cardboard Echoes through the hall. The ghastly quiet crowd Betrays the hidden nature of this torture room. The players' faces, bleak, emotionless like steel, Confess that this to them is more than just a game. But as the day goes on, the all-revealing games Make the unworthy fall; the strong remain like pillars Still playing, wearing cold unfeeling masks of steel But inside they are fragile like pieces of cardboard. Yet even though they know the horror of the room, Each weekend they will still return to fill the crowd. And later only eight remain. A silent crowd Will stay to watch the final tense and fateful games That will, for now, decide the champion of the room. The victor stands, he rests his back against a pillar. Today, he is the ruler of his realm of cardboard, And finally he can now remove his mask of steel. But all he'll win is one more day in rooms of steel. He'll just become a member of another crowd In which he'll fight to rule another world of cardboard, And still the game will be much more just a game. The day is done, the players leave. The wise old pillars Again will stand their watch over the empty room. The pillars' whispers echo through the ageless room. Again the crowd will come to play the same old game. Their dreams of glory built of steel, yet crushed like cardboard.

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