Football Poets

Days to go

¶ 1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 Days to go before
The arrival of
A marathon
On our doorstep
Claret and blue
Beads of anxiety
Pour from beleaguered
Brows of sweat
Summer dwindling
And the hopes
Of West Ham
In dizzying confusion
A European trophy
In June. Now shuddering
Anti climax
Rice now consigned
To a historical document
And the Arsenal cannonade
Await the Declan delicacy
Meanwhile rumours swirl
About your claret and blue
Warriors
Ward Prowse, Gallagher,
Fofana, Pele’s grandson
Chaotic haggling and bartering
In the modern transfer market
When will it ever end?
Now we discover that our Lucas
That delicious aura of Brazilian
Blend made from the finest
Coffee beans, touch, finesse,
Vision, hereditary skill
Now wanted by City’s Treble
Winners
£75 million
Now that’s an insult
Pacqueta leaving palpitations
In his silky stride
This has West Ham written
All over it
It’s time to sell another diamond
We should have known
But the unimaginable becomes
A sad resignation to what will be
By the end of this week
Pacqueta joins City for yet
More astronomical millions
While Southampton dilly and dally
Procrastination for breakfast,
Lunch and tea
James Ward Prowse there
Has to be a signature
For at this rate
Saturday will dawn
And the London Stadium
Loyalists will be shedding
Monsoons of tears
Dropping heavily over East End
Dreams and visions
West Ham now troubled with
Bleak forecasts
But then we knew
The trajectory this would
Lead us to nowhere in particular
Bournemouth Cherries first up
Sweetness always on the opening day
Of the season
For the hapless Hammers
Or are we hyperventilating
Seized by paroxysms of panic?
Then Scamacca leaves his Italian
Job incomplete
And heads back home
Hammers once again
Crying for finishing power
A striker to savour
And the David Moyes
Dilemma. Do they stick or twist
Poker or the roulette?
Spin that wheel
And hope for the best
The rumour maybe the exit door
Hopefully not
Must pin stability to the ground
For David Moyes
Perseverance might
Be the operative word
For a while perhaps
But once again forebodings
Of doom
Whispering voices of
Unrest, among the best
At the London Stadium
Nervous jitters
Room for gloom
This weekend in August
We start with a clean slate
But wait
Bruised and battered
Stratford masonry
Broken behind the scenes
Will repair overnight
The sooner the better
But hopefully
The seaside air
By the South Coast
Will galvanise our gut
Feelings
Oh West Ham
How they must dread
Opening days of new seasons
Let’s piece that mosaic
Back together
Carefully but surely
Mend those rifts
Stop the gossip
Kick on from June
And banners of European
Triumph
To the green billiard
Tables of the
Premier League season
August dawns
And there’s business
To attend to urgently
Before the rot sets in
And we’re back where
We were before
Languishing in dungeons
Of relegation fears
Where the Irons and Hammers
With endemic woes and cares
Always find themselves
In perennial years
Seasons without reasons
Please avoid the struggles
Permanently again and again

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