|

Empty seats – the 96 legacy

Clik The Mouse

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 A lucky and proud parent, right now I’m
watching my young progeny happily at play, in a
sunlit back garden on a verdant April evening

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 They’re on the trampoline, bouncing with joy,
their ruddy faces at times pressed up against
the safety netting, gawping, smiling, shouting

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 But this image sends shivers through me –
not that I needed reminding, but spin back
twenty years ago (tomorrow) and similar images…

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 Faces pressed up against the safety netting
mouths gaping like goldfish on concrete, their breath
bearhugged out of them, by the deadly throng

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 Onlookers watching on, worried at first that
violence is once again rearing its ugly head…
until those same faces start to turn blue…

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 The slow realisation that a tragedy is unfolding
before our very eyes – and everyone helpless, bar
the authorities – quick to cause and slow to solve

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 Salvation – there is none, no soothing of the soul,
no cessation to the pain endured daily by the
loved ones left behind …

8 Leave a comment on verse 8 0 Empty seats at the table, empty seats in the stands
where uprightness is disavowed and terracing
disallowed – after an own goal – that aggrieves us all

9 Leave a comment on verse 9 0 The Taylor report, just one testimony, to the
departed, but so too, the sea of scarves and the
ocean of tears shed – as we enjoin…

10 Leave a comment on verse 10 0 “and You’ll Nev_er Walk_A_lone
You_’ll Ne_ver Walk … Alone”

© Remembering the 96, 20th anniversary

Notes

Remembering the 96 lives lost at Hillsborough on 15th April 1989.

May they Rest In Peace.

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/empty-seats-the-96-legacy/