Football Poets

Celtic play Rangers

¶ 1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 It’s the ultimate tartan derby
This lunchtime
Celtic against Rangers
It goes as far back
As the beginning of time
Or seemingly so
The Auld Firm derby
But not quite
Auld Lang Syne
That’s for another day
Tomorrow night
In its heavy significance
Local bragging rights
Quite definitely
The end of their world
If either dare lose
Muskets drawn
Celtic and Rangers
This means business
Firing bullets of antagonism
For decades, a hotbed
Of religious divide
But it shouldn’t be that way
Since football is a humble
Easy on the eye game
Unscarred and unblemished
By outside forces
But throughout the ages,
Gemmell, Murdoch, Auld,
David Hay, King Kenny Dalglish
Celtic through and through
Were historic if
Old acquaintances on
And off the field
With John Greig, Jim Baxter,
Ally McCoist, Fergie
Sir Alex who once wove
Webs of subterfuge at Manchester’s
United, genius
For 90 minutes,
Gazza, the magical
Entertainer for a while
And so at lunchtime
Those Scottish foes
Sworn to secrecy
Before revealing their hand
On football’s fields of
Tantalising and
Thrilling rivalry
It’s personal
For sure, undoubtedly
Glasgow holds its breath
A city burnished
With burning passions
Where green and white
Hoops clash with blue
With explicit but
Good natured blue
Parkhead will be palpitating
As it always will be
Little children and teenage
Testosterone in their
Adult affinities with
These Glasgow giants
And yet
Not those malicious monsters
Who would come to blows
In bike sheds or train stations
Just as a football match
Happened to break out
Men, women, families,
Aunts, cousins, nephews
United in earthy feelings
Of love
But temporary loathing
Nothing sinister
Of course not, love
Always bringing them
Together
Still at lunchtime
Scotland will gather
For pre Hogmanay
Drink fests and New
Year’s Eve whisky
Marathons
Whatever the result
Glasgow will celebrate
The Auld Firm derby
An epic homage
To Scottish folklore
Celtic and Rangers
Sharing a vast conveyor
Belt of League Championship
Victories, too innumerable to
Mention it or not
Make sure Edinburgh or
Aberdeen or Dundee
Can hear the bagpipes
Blaring stirringly through the Highlands
And Grampians
Because Celtic and Rangers
Will strike up the band
With orchestral opulence
This is one local derby
Where a city shows
No mercy whatsoever
Enemies on the peripheries
Of penalty areas where it
All counts
But then friends back in
The Parkhead procession of
Goals by the many
We hope
Impartiality reigns
Here in Sassenach country
Regularly spawns its produce
Of the Merseyside derby
And the Manchester gladiators
North London furnaces
Boiling with fury
At Arsenal and Spurs
But these are tea parties
Compared to Celtic and Rangers
Get ready to rumble folks
It’s about to kick off
But metaphorically not of course
This historic contest
Old as the hills
If not as ancient as
Cave dwellers
Who drew their animals
Of magnetism
When there was little else to
Do or not as be it the case
Picture postcards of personalities
And characters
Never forgotten by time
Celtic and Rangers
Bhoys meet the boys
From Ibrox
Electrifying certainly
A timeless atmosphere
Like none other

17