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Goal-less draw at Burnley for the Hammers

joe morris

Sunday, December 12th, 2021

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 Oh for the gnashing of teeth
Claret and blue meet in
Identical colours
Turfmoor torture, though
For the London Stadium
Academy, where
Artistry and erudition
Remain the West Ham
Hallmark
But Burnley
They, at the
Heart of the game’s
History
The Industrial Revolution
When the belching smoke
Of chimneys and Lowry’s
Noisy factories
Joined forces with the
Striking cotton mills
Against charcoal skies
But today Burnley
Ground out the hard
Metal of a goal-less
Draw against the high fliers
Of East End who
Apparently should have
Won by a Lancashire country
Mile so that nearby Bolton,
Blackburn and Oldham
Should have heard the
Bubbles refrain,
Effervescent as the
Festive Jingle Bells
Roar from the assembled
Throng at the other end
Of Turfmoor
So we settle for the point
Although it could have been
More, woe but oh grateful
For small mercies
But Burnley
No longer the irresistible
Force of Leighton James,
Ray Hankin, Brian Flynn
and the sweet guile of Martin
Dobson, Andy Lochhead
All bulldog spirit, grit, greasy
Rags and oily cloths
That once painted a grey sky
Blue as the day when
They once won the old
First Division with that famous
1960s year of sugar and spice
Of football from planets
Far away, precise engineering
Without fault
But the Hammers are still fourth
With the right kind of tools,
Implements and instruments
Chisels and saws
That cut like butter
Through the Burnley
Brick wall that simply
Dulled the threat of
An East End foray
That might have
Poured its fragrant
Liquid into
A pot of gold
That Burnley simply
Stopped at source
A blank day at Turfmoor
But if only the claret and
Blue of London’s East End
Had soured the taste of claret
Of bullish Burnley
With its Lowry memories
Of old
March forward West Ham

Notes

My take on West Ham’s 0-0 draw with Burnley today.

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Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/goal-less-draw-at-burnley-for-the-hammers/