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Standing With Stan As Snow Was Falling

Crispin Thomas

Monday, February 25th, 2008

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 winter in the city
people scurry from the station..taxis come and go
every gloved hand has a mobile or a cappucino
and me writing haikus in the Midland Hotel
watching England on the box
as snow was falling

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 waking to white carpets
I slid through slushy streets
and met Pottamus the mascot
in a school of laughing chidren
making up funny football stories
and loving it all
as snow was falling

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 and after
I stood before your statue
outside the big shopping centre
and remembered your last game at the Bridge
I must have been nine
early sixties in the Easter London sunshine
“look there’s Stanley Matthews!” they cried
and there you were again
all bronzed and shining
as snow was falling

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 I bet you played on a few snowy pitches
they just got on with it in those days
they’d mark out the lines
and you’d be there
in them old boots
that brylcreem
and long shorts
just like that street in Stoke
when kids rushed by
as snow was falling

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 to most of them
you’re just some oldie I guess
a football scarecrow in the street
a funny name from another time
but you were amazing
and I realised how lucky I was
to catch you play
all that stuff
came back to me
standing there with you
magical and timeless
like Tumnus the faun in Narnia
as snow was falling

© CT08

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/standing-with-stan-as-snow-was-falling/