Football Poets

Assault and Battery

¶ 1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 Mis-match of the day : Innocence v the forces of evil
Venue : Battery Park
where workers, tourists, families, loved to lark
myself included
(I used to work there)
but now the terrorists have intruded
unwanted guests : at who’s behest
could they bring such unholy terror
who could have sanctioned, this monumental error?

¶ 2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 New York’s goalposts – decimated, destroyed
all civilised people, shocked, stunned, annoyed

¶ 3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 we constantly seek, peace in our time
it fits a cute, cuddly rhyme
but now us teddy’s, can no longer bear
these acts of revulsion, by those that couldn’t care

¶ 4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 from lunchtime, rumours swept the office – a strange day, full of strain
an eery atmosphere pervades, as we wait for the evening train
never have you heard, such an uneasy chatter
the normal niggling worries, no longer seem to matter
all along the platform, at the station
disbelievers, stunned, in incredulation
the evening papers, already hopelessly out of date
for the full verifiable facts, we knew we’d have to wait

¶ 5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 we pass a flying club, on the westward journey home
a gently slipping sun, glinting on chrome
two planes, innocently wheeling
had they heard the news, were they unfeeling?
performing pretty pirouettes in the sky
but still today’s shocking news, nags, and beggars : why?
twin bales of hay, stacked at the far end of a field
echo a Manhattan skyline, as it used to be, before the shield
of America’s might
gave way to tragedy, and desperate plight

¶ 6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 as the old tune goes, “It’s a long way to Tipperary” –
it’s inhabitants, quickly quietened, no longer contrary
mocking or boastful, of their All-Ireland Hurling success
all worried now, because of a fanatical excess
Erin’s sons and daughters, and so many relations
cemented, in the League of Nations
that is the truly multi-ethnic, huge big melting pot
of the New York city conglomerot
probably, of all places, the most eclectic
with it’s astonishing pace, all frantic and hectic
where possibly, every Nation of the world
has at sometime, seen it’s own flag unfurled
for visiting dignitary’s, heads of State
or maybe tattoo’d on assassin’s, lying in wait
over-patriotic zealots, waiting on orders
to bring mayhem, to financial and war office quarters

¶ 7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 and as the train trundles along
pondering the next line, in the same song
“there’s a long way to go”
before we ever really know
who, what, where, how, when and especially, why?
what is the grievance, that so many had to die?

¶ 8 Leave a comment on verse 8 0 but it wasn’t until finally returning home
that the full extent of the horror became known
until, just like Doubting Tom’s
we saw for ourselves, the impact of flying bombs
such utterly shocking scenes
repeated over and over, on our tv screens
the full scale of the atrocity
staggering us, with the suicide bombers velocity
rendering into rubble
the twin towers of the World Trade Centre, and heaping trouble
on the civilised western Nations
now at panic stations
and full red alert
to prevent any more operations, covert

¶ 9 Leave a comment on verse 9 0 on this wretched day, so many bright futures, were consigned to the dark
fatally assaulted, in the shadows of Battery Park
it’s just all so, so, sad
has the world gone stark, raving, mad?

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