Football Poets

where now..the Wembley dream is over

where now the dream is long over and gone
and your tunnel stands empty while echoes ring on?
when you ask me a place where-in legends were made
i willl show you where none but the greatest have played
from the back streets of Bolton to old London town
the joys and the sorrows the ups and the downs –
you may scour this world over but find none like this
for the ground that we dreamed on no longer exists
the end of an era that meant much to me
and so much to so many now so long Wembley

from the very first final that opening day
they would flock in their thousands along Wembley Way
in cloth caps and bowlers they came in their scores
contained by a ‘copper’ and Billie the horse
from crowds on a touchline in Spring twenty-three
to Nelson Mandela the day he walked free
this temple and stage had its own chemistry
and the turf it was sacred at old Wembley

from the year of my birth back in March forty-eight
from those mighty Olympics and games that have played
to Matthews and Puskas in late fifty-three
and the moment those floodlights first blazed on the scene
how they shone done in Europe those times Charlton scored
and lit up the sky on that ancient scoreboard
on down through the World Cup and long-argued goals
to Cup-Final dramas this stadium had soul
each blade of her green grass held some memory
when you ponder on glory you think on Wembley

like nights when the twin-towers first heard rock n’roll
and Haley and Jerry Lee put on that show
those eco-laced eighties Mandela Live-Aid
when Springsteen Madonna and Jackson all played
from penalty misses to anthems and hits
we chanted with pride in Euro Ninety-Six
the day when they carried Paul Gascoigne off crying
to the fastest of goals that will stand for all time
to all of the moments that won’t come no more
the scarves and the banners that old Wembley roar
but of all of the memories that live on and on
the saddest of all is that Wembley is gone…

Oct 1 2001 Pefkos.Rhodes,Greece.

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