DIPLOMACY BY THE LETTERS

by Harold Reynolds


D is for dagger, it's sharp as a tack.
It's a really fun toy, 'til you're stabbed in the back.

I is for Italy, shaped like a boot.
If you play it for kicks, you're a crazy old coot.

P is for Paris, a city in France.
Germans will take it if given the chance.

L is for Loser; There sometimes are six.
They fall to the winner and his bag of tricks.

O is for Ottoman, it's more than a stool.
It's Joe in the corner, who's nobody's fool.

M is for Mercy. What's that, you say?
It's being too nice; that's not how we play.

A is for Austria, stuck in the middle.
He's needing help big-time: a lot, not a little.

C is for comrade, your ally for life,
But be suspicious when he sharpens his knife.

Y is for You, without whom there's no game.
Once you start playing, you're never the same.



Harold Reynolds
(hjreynolds2@rogers.com)

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