Poems tagged ‘Pele dies’
Pelé- the great one passes
We knew it would happen
But we couldn’t be sure when
It was the day football
Might have been dreading
A dark pall of depression
Hovers over the Beautiful Game
Pele, the master of over all
Dies amid a welter of superlatives
He once surveyed
Transcending over all
Appropriate verbs
Defying any explanation
The worthiest of places
In the game’s Pearly Gates
Pele, a Brazilian expressionist
Impressionist, surrealist,
The most astonishing ability
Majesty, grace, amid the game’s
Most elevated sainthood
Santos, through and through
1,000s of goals at the highest
Echelons, anointed for grandeur
Purity, an Adonis of
Gorgeously proportioned physique
Balance and poise of gymnastic
Perfection, feet like the piano keys
Of the most musical concert
The most impeccably tuned violins
Sweeping across the grass
The natural speed of a panther
Lampooning defenders, satirising
Their every thought pattern
Dancing the fandango again
Then in the 1970 World Cup
Pele, waxed with over indulgence
Dummying Uruguyan goalkeepers
A player of bookish lyricism
Every pass like a Dickensian sentence
Always flowing across the pages of our
Imagination, a flick of the brush
With left and right foot
Dabbing with simple designs
And then the iconic moments of our lives
The pass of majestic impertinence to Carlos
Alberto that belonged in the National
Portrait Gallery. Take that D’Artagnan
Stroking the ball square as if
From the deepest recesses of
The most erudite memory
Oblivious of the pomp and ceremony
Then from the kick off in 1970
World Cup proceedings against
The Czechs, Edson weighed up
The trajectories and geometries
Of possibility
Let’s try to score from the half way
Line, the ball floated like a child’s balloon
Through breathless space and time
And with the keeper beaten
Drops agonisingly wide
Another moment of visual beauty
Complete and conclusive, finalised
A staggering tour de force
And finally during the mid 1970s
The New York Cosmos lent
Its lucrative hand to Edson
From the sorcerer’s feet
Where Pele met Beckenbauer
And Bobby, the supreme one
Of English 66 World Cup appointment
It all must have seemed
An anti climactic showbiz
Charade and a parody
Of how history had been so
Good to Pele
A cosmetic exercise in
Brash, cheer-leading American
Pom poms but the USA
Bid a fond farewell to
The beatific Pele
With a perfect send off
We love the Americans
And despite the violent
Thuggery and vicious
Assault on the Brazilian
Maestro in English 66
World Cup abomination
Pele remains
And will always be
Praised to the highest
Cobalt blue skies
Richly acknowledged
By football academia
As the greatest, the
Best, unsurpassable
Almost beyond mastery
Immaculate,
Genius is a work of art
And Pele reaches
A gallery of the
Exquisitely gifted
His idyllic place
That celestial seat
At the top table
A celebration of
Everything that
Was his definitive
Signature
On the Beautiful Game
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!
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Latest Poems
joe morris
6th May 2024
joe morris
4th May 2024
Crispin Thomas
2nd May 2024
joe morris
2nd May 2024
joe morris
28th April 2024
Richard Williams
26th April 2024
joe morris
25th April 2024
Denys E. W. Jones
25th April 2024
kevin halls
23rd April 2024
Alex Saynor
23rd April 2024
Crispin’s Corner
In Memoriam
Kick It Out & Christmas Truce
Latest Comments
29th April 2024 at 2:47 pm
Hi Denys,
Yes Richard Williams you’re a brilliant wordsmith, my friend. When I first saw your football poetry I thought it was the superb Guardian sports and music writer. I once had the honour of sitting next to Richard Williams while at the Independent on the sports desk. He writes about music and sport with immense knowledge and authority. I’ve read a couple of Richard’s books recently. Great writer rather like you Richard Williams the Pompey fan. Congratulations on promotion.
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28th April 2024 at 5:59 pm
Thanks Denys. Yes your replay poem was superb.
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26th April 2024 at 4:46 pm
Nice work, Joe. You were quick off the mark with that! Good one from Richard Williams too I see.
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25th April 2024 at 7:33 pm
Hi Denys,
Thanks mate. I’ll do it now.
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25th April 2024 at 1:56 pm
Thanks Joe,
you might like to write a poem yourself on the same subject…
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23rd April 2024 at 4:03 pm
Hi Denys
With you all the way on the abolition of FA Cup replays. What are they doing to the game?
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23rd April 2024 at 3:59 pm
Hi Crispin,
Yes sorry mate. Villa are still in Europe. Mistake rectified.
Cheers
Joe
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20th April 2024 at 12:04 pm
Hi Joe
Shouldn’t your title read your poem Farewell Europe England to everyone exccept Aston Villa ?
I know you mention them in your poem , but I do feel sorry for Villa re the national press .
Largely ignored. the hype was was all about Man City & Arsenal with a bit of a nod to the Hammers..but hardly a mention of Villa..
So well done to them
C
.
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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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