The Honeymoon Gambit

This chess poem was originally published in a UK mag, Chess Monthly, I think April 1996 but not sure - if anyone has the original issue can they help me as I think I have missed a verse out when reconstructing it from memory.  I wrote this on honeymoon and it is about the splendid Gambit chess cafe in the Dam.  One of the best moments of my life however was a year or two later I was back in Holland at the Max Euwe Chess Centre and by some weird coincidence the proprieter there was showing my poem to an American lady tourist....It was weird to witness.  The cheese and ham was true - we were poorer then. :)

The Honeymoon Gambit

The wedding fresh, off hand in hand,

They set out for a foreign land:

A honeymoon in Amsterdam,

To feast on bread with cheese and ham.

A warm and loving time was spent

Until one day by chance they went

Down Bloemgracht, by the canal,

And found something not quite banal.

A cafe, yes, like all the rest

But at the door a chequered crest

Proclaimed to all what lay inside:

A den where armies fought and died.

So in he swept, she trailed behind,

And wedded bliss slipped from his mind;

Rows of tables, boards and pieces

Called to him with gentle teases.

A glance, a nod, he sits to play

And feels his worries melt away.

The groom swims in his world of chess;

The bride sinks, clutching wedding-dress.

Distraught, she calls out "Me or that?"

Shamefaced, the man picks up his hat;

Without a doubt or backward look

He hangs his hat upon the hook.

Rejected, then, she takes her leave,

So heed this moral and believe:

If you'd avoid this tale of woe,

Brides, learn to play before you go.

A wee touch  just  of Rabbie there

nice twist to story of the players

Thanks.  Nice to know someone cares...