But if the fable throned on a cotton-bale Is checkmated by the pawns of iron and wheat, The shadows will pause, and cleave to iron and wheat, They will go their ways and lift their eyes from the game, For iron and wheat are not to be lightly held. So the watchers, searching the board. And so the game. The blockade grips, the blockade-runners break through, There are duels and valors, the Western game goes on And the snake of the Mississippi is tamed at last, But the fight in the East is the fight between the two kings. If Richmond is threatened, we threaten Washington, You check our king with McClellan or Hooker or Grant, We will check your king with Jackson or Early or Lee And you must draw back strong pieces to shield your king, For we hold the chord of the circle and you the arc And we can shift our pieces better than you.