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The Belfast Boy

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 He made
Even the most football-loathing pygmy
From the deepest recesses of Timbuktu
Sit up and take notice

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 Of the beauty
That can be created
By the gentle art
Of booting a ball around a football pitch.

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 ‘El Beatle’
Created dreams for millions of people,
Who didn’t know
That the human body

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 Could create such
Artistic magnificence
With the merest twist of an ankle…
The slightest bend of a knee…

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 The simple act
Of kicking
A football
Up and down a pitch.

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 You didn’t need to be
A fan of his team
To appreciate
And love

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 The awe-inspiring style
This genius created
Like a modern-day
Leonardo.

8 Leave a comment on verse 8 0 He was a lesson to everybody
Who doesn’t know
How gifted they are
In their own unique way.

9 Leave a comment on verse 9 0 Some people
Are more gifted
Than others…
But we are all

10 Leave a comment on verse 10 0 Capable of reaching
Our own personal Nirvana
If we cover
Every last blade of grass.

11 Leave a comment on verse 11 0 People in his homeland
Are obsessed
With which foot
Somebody kicks with.

12 Leave a comment on verse 12 0 But future generations
Will tell tales
About the greatest feet
That anybody from this province ever kicked with –

13 Leave a comment on verse 13 0 The incomparable feet
Of the man
Who single-handedly
Put Northern Ireland on the map.

14 Leave a comment on verse 14 0 The greatest footballer
This world has ever seen
Will be remembered
And loved

15 Leave a comment on verse 15 0 Long after we mere mortals
Have gone up to that great
Elysian football field
In the sky.

16 Leave a comment on verse 16 0 Not bad, for a wee boy from Belfast!
To people in the furthest-flung
Corners of the world,
He IS Northern Ireland.

17 Leave a comment on verse 17 0 If you mention Northern Ireland
To a Tibetan monk or an Eskimo…
The first two words they say are:
“George Best!”

Notes

My tribute to the greatest footballer the world has ever seen

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/the-belfast-boy/