Football Poets

Scotland, Scotland

¶ 1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 Oh Scotland, Scotland
Hail our heather clad
Friends on the glens
From the highlands to
The craggy mountains
Where the familiar skirl
Of the indigenous bagpipes
Blow stridently against
The swirling mists of
Grampians mornings
Until deep into the evening
Scotland though
Moving sweetly towards
Euro 2024 in the land
Of Teutonic thoroughness
Germany bound
Blossoming potential
The native thistle
Prickly but now
Excitable as
A night of Rabbie Burns
Poetry for all
Last night the Scots
Found Cyprus in
Charitable mood
Could this be the moment
When Scottish football
Stretches and yawns
From its deepest sleep
Slumbering for ages
But now eyes blinking open
Awake again
No longer in the margins
Alienated by the masses
The product of a thousand
Billy Connolly self mocking jokes
Scotland now recalling
Slim Jim Baxter, Dennis Law,
Bobby Murdoch, Tommy Gemmell,
Asa Hartford heartfelt,
Archie Gemmill like a runaway train
Tireless, relentless, slaloming
Past Dutch cordons in the
1978 World Cup
Scotland so near but far
Heart on his sleeve
Then Joe Jordan, all teeth and tenacity
Glaring at defenders with disdainful eyes
Scottish football once the butt of
The acerbic bite and butt of
Comics from Glasgow to Aberdeen
From far and wide
But not now
This is serious
Wake up East Fife, Forfar,
Clyde, Montrose, Raith Rovers,
Dumbarton, Dundee and United
And of course the giant cities
Of Glasgow
Your time could be now
As opposed to what might have been
Celtic and Rangers still the
Focal point, the celebrated elite
The cream of the crop
Scotland’s finest and brightest
They’ll be imbibing their whiskies
Now for days of celebration and rejoicing
Matured from vibrant cellars
And vineyards
Whiskey galore
Washing over a thousand lochs
From the richest barrels
Scotland in Euros top table
Contention, the business end
A mouth watering prospect
They’ve done it once
And they’ll do it again
Steve Clarke’s men holding court
Euros in their euphoric thoughts
Oh Scotland the brave
March forward and step into
The crowded and cosmopolitan
Rooms of football’s
European top dogs
Never forget Willy Ormond,
Jock Stein, Ally Mcleod’s
Tartan army
Bitter memories from the past
But now is the time
To rectify the narrative
Of embarrassment
Look forward Scotland
To next year in Germany
The future is yours

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