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So close to the exit gate

joe morris

Monday, July 1st, 2024

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 Oh woe, what torture,
What agony and purgatory
Why do we keep doing it
To ourselves?
Seconds away from the
Departure gate of
Euro2024 and suddenly
Jude did indeed
Take a sad song
And improve it
Most remarkably
But there we were
Waiting at the baggage carousel
Despairing of ever
Finding our suitcases
Probably in Munich
Or Frankfurt
But passports
Not required
Since Jude Bellingham
Saved our neck
When it looked
As if we were doomed
To Business class
On Virgin’s finest plane
Home again
For what seemed a lifetime
England were just clueless
Without even a glimpse
Of imagination in their
Mind set
Backwards, forwards, sideways
Vertical and horizontal
Slow waltzes in evidence
On the pitch,
Toothless,
Moody and melancholy
Static and statuesque
11 mannequins in
A German shop window
Military two steps at times
Passes destined
For nobody in particular
Stunted and blunted
Dull as ditchwater
England stuck in treacle
Even Slovakia made us
Look like a Hackney Marshes 11
Thank goodness Jude
Real Madrid’s most magnificent
Overhead bicycle kick
To treasure for ever
Wondrous leveller
From nowhere
Before Harry Kane
Underlined the signature
Moment of Jude’s life
And England’s salvation
The winner who
Nobody would ever
Have expected
How time stopped
For England
And how close
They were from
Coming home
Amid shame again
Yet still we go
Against Switzerland
Swiss, please don’t miss
Don’t roll over
With tummy tickled
Gareth Southgate’s
Possible last chance
Saloon
England let’s go

Notes

England win quite miraculously against Slovakia in the first knockout stage of Euro 2024. With seconds to go we were all on tenterhooks and nail biting duty. It’s Switzerland in the quarter final for Gareth Southgate’s men.

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Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/so-close-to-the-exit-gate/