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Rite of Passage

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 There are moments in a boy’s life- days that linger and ferment forever in the mind:
Growing up; leaving the pencil case and the lunch box behind.

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 The first time a razor slides smoothly across the pizza-dappled chin;
The realisation you don’t always have to win… to win.

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 The sad slow penny drop that figures out the Tooth Fairy; the Easter Bunny- both Little White Lies
And your Dad drinks the sherry; scoffs the half dozen mince pies.

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 1 First girlfriend; first kiss; first wage packet in your hand
First car; first child… as the boy becomes a man.

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 But the day after which life would never be the same
Was the very first time my uncle took me to my very first game.

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 Midweek fixture: pitch lit up like a birthday cake
Took my breath away; spent the rest of the night awake…

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 Reliving every kick and chase, arms aloft above the covers at the memory of every goal.
Realising I had found the thing that would delight; frustrate; and which made me whole.

Notes

My first game was West Bromwich Albion v Coventry City sometime in 1978.
It finished 3-3
and finished me.

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/rite-of-passage/