Some call it checkers,
I call it draughts.
Don't play with me
If you think it's just a game
And you don't mind losing.
I play a mean game. I play to win.
Old Peter Salaveros taught me
When I was a boy.
We played on a scrubbed table
In the seamen's mess,
Just him and me.
We played seriously.
Neither of us smiled.