Only fools..

Walked in the park,

Do exercise, no less.

Saw the old guy,

His Xiangqi* board set up,

But no one to play with.

Haven’t played for a long time ,

But was best in school , from us five.

The guy thinks he has a tumor,

The way he’s surprised to see me,

The foreign ape,

But I challenge him.

Quickly we are surrounded by others,

Who want to see how badly I fail;

You don’t see a fat laowai**,

Playing xiangqi in the park everyday.

The guys hiss and jibber.

They prod, and explain, and smirk.

But I don’t listen, I’m in the game,

I’m focused,

I’m going to do it!

This is it.

Move my catapult to the forward line,

Mate in three?

Actually mate in one,

The guy laid a trap and I didn’t even see.

Can’t blame anyone, but myself.

Wasn’t much of a challenge.

He crushed me three more times.

At least when I was leaving,

He had a pick of whom to play with next.

*xiangqi- a Chinese boardgame, not very different from chess.

**laowai- semi- derogatory word for foreigner. Mostly of Caucasian appearance.