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“Football at Fifty”

Dulwich Poet

Friday, March 9th, 2018

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 I’m sat on a cheap bus
Going to FC Groningen v. AZ
The last day in my forties
Not long til I’m dead.
Hopefully that’s a while yet
It’s day like this I’ll miss
Thought they had gone forever
When I was seriously on the piss.
I love my cheap travelling
Even though my budget’s tight
I must be the only tourist in Amsterdam
Not getting high as a kite.
My ultimate buzz is a new ground
When I have the pylons in sight
There’s really nothing more beautiful
On a cold winter night.
This afternoon’s a treat
Another Dutch top flight tick
If that makes me a ‘groundhopper’
I’m prepared to take the stick.
You might think I’m crazy
But it’s so much more than a game
I get to see museums and galleries
Think twice before calling me a name.
Been to so many places I’m not going to go again
So before you call me a ‘sad git’
Breathe in and count to ten.
I’ll have a few hours to kill
Strolling round the centre of town
Give me that over a Spanish beach
Getting pissed while burning brown.
My travels might not appeal to you
And I am all alone
But I am doing something that I love
So don’t take this as a moan.
Walking round a strange town
Taking random snaps at my leisure
Today’s my perfect ‘birthday treat’
It’s how I get my pleasure.
Tomorrow I turn fifty
The autumn of my life
Probably only a decade or two left
After half a century of strife.
My life is very simple
The last year’s been so much stress
Don’t want to give myself false hope
But it seems less and less.
Does it really matter
How many years I’ve got to live
It’s not how old or young you die
But what you have to give.
Perhaps I should use my fiftieth birthday
To start afresh as if day one
Learning to have confidence and self-belief
The rest of my life has begun.

Notes

(I wrote this on 23rd October 2016. The following day I turned fifty. I was on my annual ‘birthday holiday’ and my treat to myself that day was going to FC Groningen versus AZ. Two and a half hours each way on a bus)

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/football-at-fifty/