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The Kids With The Covered Carts

Ianthe Exall

Thursday, May 28th, 2015

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 The neglected pitch is dry and rough
The goalposts taken down
An abandoned ball all scuffed and grubby
And the side-paths overgrown.
Bleak, unloved and empty
The ground no longer used
Nothing left to shout for
To keep the kids amused.
But wait, there is some movement
I see the bushes part
And slowly looking left and right
Comes a kid with a covered cart.
He stops and looks behind
And another boy appears,
He too has a covered cart
That has seen a good few years.
They nod and smile and nod again
And remove the tattered covers,
Tossing out four ragged balls
To share amongst the others.
And the others start arriving
As the word had spread around
That the village kids were gathering
To reclaim the abandoned ground.
Deep in the heart of Zululand
With nothing to their names,
These kids who have so little
Make a plan to play the game.
The balls are made from old cloth pieces
Their ‘boots’ pretty much the same
And the joy that I see on their faces
Just makes me turn and weep,
They have created something from nothing
With their love of a game that runs deep.
There are projects that help kids like this to succeed,
But so much more could be done,
They all need our help, our love and support
To go out and play the beautiful game
Under the African sun.

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 Ianthe Exall
May 2015

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/the-kids-with-the-covered-carts/