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First Memory ~ Inside Outside

Graham Salter

Thursday, May 29th, 2014

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 My first memory was Sweden in nineteen fifty eight.
Climbing out of bed, aged seven,  I crept downstairs
To the strains of the German anthem
“Glorious things of thee are spoken”
Felt joy as plucky Sweden won the day.
Then darkness outside
Inside, the radio’s sigh. Rahn, Fritz Walter, Liebrecht; Schaeffer, Eckel, Mai.

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 World Cup in England. Nineteen sixty-six. 
Tickets for Goodison. Saw a banana kick from Garrincha
Samba-danced through Stanley Park,
Then back to Preston and school.
Late afternoon outside
Inside, the radio’s call. Wilson, Cohen, Charlton; Peters, Charlton, Ball.

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 World Cup in colour. Seventy. Mexico.
Watching in a café ( in France and in love).
Blood drained from bold red shirts, as survival slipped away
From England.
Then Brazil made hay.
Darkness within
Outside, the brightest day. Gerson, Tostao, Jairzinho; Carlos Alberto, Pelé.

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 Italy in nineteen ninety.
And Pavarotti’s voice
Expressed our national yearning
To be near, so near, but far.
Now morning outside
Desire, like memory, fading in the light. Gascoigne, Platt and Beardsley; Lineker, Pearce, Wright

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 Many years later; ninety-eight in France.
Slipping out of the house, for once, to the pub upon the Green.   
Crowding, jostling,cursing, but gripped by the television screen.
Silence outside.
In France, the spin of a coin.
Beckham, Scholes and Anderton; Batty, Shearer, Owen.
Sometimes, though we haven’t a prayer
We go on hoping still
Who can give us glory?
This year, this month, Brazil!
Calmness  outside.
Inside, the new dreams start
Rooney, Baines or Gerrard? Welbeck? Sterling? Hart?

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/first-memory-inside-outside/?share=google-plus-1