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One Man’s Meat

Peter Goulding

Wednesday, October 13th, 2004

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 He was signed as a youth,
And to tell you the truth,
His progress was simply stupendous.
‘Twas a young player’s dream
To go straight in the team,
And the impact he made was tremendous.

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 A player complete,
He’d the world at his feet,
And you’d think he was bound for great glory.
But the truth is, dear friend,
There is no happy end
To this short and uninteresting story.

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 His dad did approach
The club’s first team coach,
And told him his son was resigning.
The coach stood there dazed,
Just incredibly fazed,
Reduced to such pitiable whining.

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 “Please don’t get mad,”
Said the young feller’s dad.
“I’m quite sure that it must be a shocker.
But he cares not a jot
For the footballer’s lot.
Tell the truth, he just can’t abide soccer.”

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 The coach scratched his head,
And eventually said,
“This is worse than I actually thought.
Pray tell, what’s the reason
He joined us this season
If he has no regard for the sport?”

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 “Ever since he was small,”
Said the dad with a drawl,
“He’s had this compulsive obsession.
The thing he loves best-
And I swear I don’t jest-
Is a long football-boot-cleaning session.

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 He loves scraping the mud
Off the soles and each stud,
(As he told several priests in confessionals)
So apprenticeship beckoned,
Because the lad reckoned
He’d be cleaning the boots for professionals.

8 Leave a comment on verse 8 0 But he got his promotion
Without much commotion,
And the world was just spread out before him.
But what makes him so mad,”
Said the glum-looking Dad,
“Is his own boots are even cleaned for him.”

© Peter Goulding 13th October 2004

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/one-mans-meat/?shared=email&msg=fail