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Old Gold

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 This country’s old gold
is scattered now to mine
in books and fields
and hidden frescoes
unveiled from time to time.

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 This country’s old gold
is scattered and so fine
at Molineux or Balado Bridge,
in rural churchyards
or cool sea breezes
which blow from time to time.

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 This country’s gold
once circled in mist
over Hillhead Farm
soon in deeper distress
than any league surface
or Worcestershire field

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 in the days before colour
testament to legend

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 when the spitfire’s charmed propellers
provided the earth and met its attrition.

Notes

‘Old Gold’ is a reference to the shirt colour worn by Wolves prior to the 1960s.

Sgt. John Silvester was on Wolves’ books prior to his death on Valentine’s Day 1941, at the age of 22, when his spitfire crashed in extremely foggy conditions during a training exercise. It has recently been unearthed in Slamannan near Falkirk.

I read his story in ‘The Faithful Few: Worcestershire’s Fighting Boys’ by Andrew Long

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/old-gold/