I’ll be loving you always”
“I’ll be loving you always”
4 old ladies, sleeping in the ward,
I wait for mum to wake; a bored
Doctor asks a nurse if Swindon
Are playing today.
She tells him, “Doncaster, away.”
Mum wakes up and I hold her hand,
Then Nora awakes and sobs as she struggles to stand,
Singing “I’ll be loving you, always,
With a heart that’s true, always
Not for just a day. Not for just a year.
Not for just a week. But always.”
Then breaks down, “Nobody comes to see me.
I wish I was dead. I’m so unhappy.
I was going to throw myself out the window, I was.
But you know me. I don’t like to make a fuss.”
“I’ll be loving you always.
With a heart that’s true, always.
Not for just a day. Not for just a week.
Not for just a month. But always.”
The nurse shows Nora her exercise book,
Where each day’s events can be looked
At and remembered and I hear her say
“See, look Nora your son came yesterday,
He comes to see you everyday.”
Nora smiles and so does Dorothy.
She’s just finished her cold milky tea
And is having her hair done,
In a style that she liked when she was young.
So now the only person all alone
Is the tiny woman who’s all skin and bone,
Sleeping quietly in her chair,
Oblivious to the way that we now share
Conversation, laughs and chat.
“You’re a lucky woman to have a son like that.
I wish mine would come and see me.
But he’s after my pension and my money.
If you ask me.
Which you won’t. Nobody does.
But I don’t like to make a fuss.
I’ll be loving you always.
With a heart that’s true always.
She’s a lovely woman, your mother.”
“And you’re a lovely woman too, Nora.”
They laugh together, young again,
Just like flappers way back when
All the boys would whistle and stare
When mum and Nora would stand and dare
The would be dancers to ask them out.
But now that confidence is replaced by doubt
And abrupt melancholic silence.
I give mum a poster-poem collage for her bedside,
Words and pictures for her memory to ride
Her off to sleep and dreams and a happy time
Until she wakes again when the dinner trolley arrives.
I kiss her. It’s time for me to go back home
For all the football scores and answer-phone.
A one all draw and a takeaway.
Another spring-time Saturday.
“I’ll be loving you always.”
About This Site
Welcome to Football Poets -- a club for all football poets, lovers of football and lovers of (alternative) poetry. Discover poets in every league from respected internationals at the top of their game to young hopefuls in the school playground.
Publish your football poems here and then discuss them with your team mates and fans. We're archived by The British Library, so your masterpieces are in the safe hands of a world-class keeper. What a result!
My Account
Latest Poems
joe morris
17th April 2024
Clik The Mouse
15th April 2024
Mike Bartram
15th April 2024
joe morris
14th April 2024
Mike Bartram
11th April 2024
joe morris
11th April 2024
Alex Saynor
9th April 2024
Denys E. W. Jones
8th April 2024
joe morris
8th April 2024
Mike Bartram
3rd April 2024
Crispin’s Corner
In Memoriam
Kick It Out & Christmas Truce
Latest Comments
19th March 2024 at 8:00 am
Hi Crispin. Chris Sutton on the radio has gone for a Chelsea v Coventry final. As we know anything can happen in the Cup, and I reckon we can go to the final.
We’re still in with a chance of the play offs too, so lots to go for.
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19th March 2024 at 7:41 am
Hey Kev
Let the masses drool over their odds on City v Unted Final, but who knows how pressure can hit.
Cov and Chels will be rightly labelled as having no chance..but hey …stranger things have happened..
so Chelsea v Coventry…that’s the Final for us!
Best
C
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29th January 2024 at 10:03 pm
Hi Crispin,
How are you doing mate? Yes, you’re probably right but hey football is all about emotion and passion and I just love writing about the game. I try to keep my poetry to a reasonable length but there’s so much to write about the game and its literature just lends itself naturally to poetry. Sometimes I just get completely carried and I do apologise for the length of my poetry but it’s a great thrill to be associated with Football Poets.
Cheers mate
Joe
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10th January 2024 at 7:52 pm
You’re right of course Joe but…..it’s actually more of a big welcome break for everyone who is not into Premier League ..I’m talking fans of EFL National League and below…..
Btw …is this actually your longest poem ever !?
Best
Crispin
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8th January 2024 at 4:45 pm
Thanks!
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8th January 2024 at 10:42 am
There’s something so evocative and nostalgic for football fans the world over, in ‘revisiting’ old lost grounds.
Occasionally some remnants remain, with perhaps part of a wall or part or a stand or thre shape of a terrace, but often they are only still there in faded images and in our heads..
Great stuff Graham
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4th January 2024 at 10:13 am
A great idea and well executed. Thanks Graham.
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19th November 2023 at 1:45 pm
Thanks Gacina, glad you liked it, and I have just posted a new one about our points deduction…
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7th November 2023 at 6:34 pm
Today B.B.C post on F.B was titled:Premier League reduced to 18 clubs? I really think it may be interesting to see if this would be Everton’s nightmare and this poem is well suited for this concern.If there would be more difficult battle to stay if there were 18 teams.Great poem and somehow true.
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6th November 2023 at 4:43 pm
Ashington FC have launched a £50,000 Crowdfunder appeal to meet the increased costs of winning promotion last season, to pay for urgent stadium improvements, travel costs and equipment
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