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Late evening walk, in these strange times

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 Like a gnarled old hand, the spindly tree spread out above me
Stooped over the country lane
Its silhouetted fingers, tickling the hedge-hemmed curious calves

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 Lying in wait somewhere, hidden and camouflaged –
The accursed covid corsair
Ready to make inroads, to breach boundaries, to infect and infest
To strangle the lungs
Of the desperately unlucky

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 We want rid
To protect the sick and the infirm; the elderly, the enervated;
To go from all vulnerable – to expurgated

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 And further
Way down the setting
Of Shankly’s scale
We want rid
To allow the light back into the world of sport
To allow football to re-generate
From the roots upwards and outwards
A footy-synthesis
To illuminate our hearts
To let the spirits soar
And the gems to sparkle

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 We want transubstantiation
From cowering cocoon
To faithful acolytes
All ready to festoon
Praise aplenty
Happy again
To be the cognoscenti

35

Notes

Yes, all within 2km of my house.
And I didn’t meet a sinner.

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/late-evening-walk-in-these-strange-times/