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The Butterflies (Celtic v Liverpool)

clive david mendes

Monday, September 1st, 2003

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 My tummy is full of butterflies
They won’t keep still at all
And all because of a beautiful game
That’s played with a leather ball

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 You see the Bhoys are playing a football match
An important one, I stress
They need some goals for a victory
If score the others less

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 My nights have been disastrous
I’ve turned and bucked and tossed
For dread that in two hours’ time
We’ll have played the game and lost

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 I’m quietly praying to win it
That the lads will do us proud
That they’ll beat the Reds to kingdom come
‘Fore a noisy, boisterous crowd

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 Who’ll sing their hearts from gladness
Whose cheers will pierce the night
For the total ninety minutes
The defence will keep it tight

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 The midfield serves the strikers
Who are focused on the goal
Who’ll twist and turn and shimmy
While the wingers touch patrol

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 Then the header hits the crossbar
And in the scramble that ensues
A green-and-white boot emerges
And scores to put us through

8 Leave a comment on verse 8 0 To the next round of the trophy
We go on to win the cup
Our Captain lifts it skyward
And a joyous shout goes up

9 Leave a comment on verse 9 0 If I could freeze this moment
In the hour before the start
It were like to be in purgatory
‘Cause it’s tearing me apart

10 Leave a comment on verse 10 0 It’s not true that I’m a junior
Or, a youngster green and wet
I’ve forty summers past me
No shame and no regret

11 Leave a comment on verse 11 0 I feel like a tot at Christmas
When the Celtic take the field
It’s in my blood; it’s in my bones
It’s on my face revealed

12 Leave a comment on verse 12 0 Nor am I the only victim
There are millions more like me
Who where the team goes, follow
And suffer agony

13 Leave a comment on verse 13 0 Until the playing’s over
And the final whistle’s gone
And, win or lose, they’ll sing a song
For how the job was done

14 Leave a comment on verse 14 0 Then settles down the pulse rate
And the buttocks do unclench
And for a while we feel okay
Man and youth and wench

15 Leave a comment on verse 15 0 When we think that we’ve recovered
And we’re free from stress and strain
Then we feel the beasties coming
And the butterflies start again

16 Leave a comment on verse 16 0 ‘Cause just around the corner
There’s another coin to spin
Another goal to target
Another game to win

17 Leave a comment on verse 17 0 Whether watching in the sunshine
Through dark of winter snow
In the wind and rain from Heaven
There’s one thing you need to know

18 Leave a comment on verse 18 0 Triumphant or defeated
Or, in stalemate, no despair!
We’re satisfied to emphasize
The Glasgow Celtic will be there

© clive 13/03/2003

Notes

I wrote this two hours before Celtic v Liverpool in the UEFA Cup while on a business trip to Farmington, Connecticut, USA on 13th March, 2003. Needless to say, I was so nervous I couldn’t concentrate on the job!

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/the-butterflies-celtic-v-liverpool/