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The Lamentation of the EX-Footballer

Denys E. W. Jones

Saturday, December 25th, 2004

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 I made my debut at eighteen
In nineteen sixty-three.
When four Moptops from Merseyside
Were singing Please Please Me.
Pop songs were heard on vinyl then,
And not on MP3.

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 I got my first goal at Maine Road
‘Gainst Manchester Citee.
The flair and talent that I showed
Were plain for all to see.
(For all those packed inside that Ground –
There was no Sky Tee Vee…)

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 Then like a meteor I rose,
I won many trophees.
And graced Cathedrals of the Game –
San Siro, Wemberlee.
While that Fab Four from Liverpool
Sang Eleanor Rigbee.

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 Young girls asked for my autograph,
And went weak at the knees.
Then stuck my photo on their wall,
Beside Paul McCartnee.
While lads throughout the land wished they
Could all wear my Jersee.

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 You’ll find it no surprise that I
Was capped for my Countree.
Or travelled down to old Buck House
To take tea with the Queen.
D’you know what she bestowed on me?
You guessed – an M.B.E.

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 But cruel Fate cut short my career
Through crippling injuree.
A hatchet-man lunged at my legs
And knackered my left knee.
So sadly I hung up my boots
In nineteen-seventee.
(While those four lads from Liverpool
Were high on L.S.D.)

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 An age ago all that now seems –
The Twentieth Centuree.
There’s new stars in the spotlight now –
Ronaldo, Wayne Roonee…
And when folk pass me in the street,
They don’t fall to their knees.
No chance that they will nod or greet,
They’re wondering: “Hey, who’s he?”

8 Leave a comment on verse 8 0 So here I sit with slippered feet
On my threadbare settee.
A scratched LP (I hate CDs)
Is playing Let it Be.
While I shower scorn on fame-struck fans
Of sieve-like memoree.
I curse all fickle football fans
Who’ve quite forgotten me …

9 Leave a comment on verse 9 0 26/12/04
Denys E. W. Jones

© 26/12/04

Notes

This poem is a re-working of a poem by William Butler Yeats entitled The Lamentation of the Old Pensioner. Any similarity between my EX-Footballer and any actual living footballer is purely coincidental…

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/the-lamentation-of-the-ex-footballer/