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Going Left

non humphries

Monday, January 19th, 2009

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 It’s going left.
I know it’s going left,
I think.

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 That’s doubt
As the ball is placed
On the little white spot
And the taker steps back
To take their run up
Aiming to place the ball past you.

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 That’s doubt
That strikes before
The shot is struck,
Before the real battle starts.

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 That’s doubt
That strikes when you need to be strong
When the game’s balance is in your hands
Or rather not in your hands
If you don’t get this right.

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 That’s doubt
When your whole team count on you
When the earth is stands still and silent
And a thousand eyes on you
Willing you to concede
But you can’t.

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 That’s doubt,
What leaves you stranded
In no man’s land
Because you thought you knew
Yet waited, doubting,
Too late to react.

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 That’s doubt
When the picture of the goal’s in your mind
The swerve of the shot,
The bulge in the back of the net,
Penalty taker’s celebration
But you alone can’t let it happen.

8 Leave a comment on verse 8 0 That’s doubt,
What makes you change
Your mind and the way you’re going
To dive
And get it wrong that way instead
Because you didn’t know what you knew.

9 Leave a comment on verse 9 0 But it’s doubt too
That, if harnessed,
Makes you dive the way you chose,
Because you read the run-up
And you know,
You know it’s going left.
But even as you
Shift your weight
Ready to pounce into flight,
That doubt in your mind
That’s making you sick with it,
Will tell you to leave your legs trailing
Just in case it’s down the middle,
Even though you know it’s going left.

10 Leave a comment on verse 10 0 It’s going left,
I know it’s going left.
I think.

Notes

Unless you’ve been there yourself, there’s no real way of explaining what goes through your head in that situation. your absolutely certain where the shot’s going and that scares you because you know you shouldn’t be and that your ability to react to the shot is impaired by the conception of where you think it’s going. It’s a horrible fear – you’re certainty is the very thing that makes you doubt yourself.

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/going-left/