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The Roar of Lions

John McGuire

Sunday, July 2nd, 2006

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 Dare we dream?

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 The sky, clear blue like the iris of some great beholder.
The kin of George prepare for battle royal,
spirits and ambitions of those,
who rally to the cause,
lifted by gusts of expectation.

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 I sit,
I wait,
my heart trembling
as blood pulses furiously through each vein.

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 Visions of yesteryear shackle my trepidation.
No fear,
no doubt,
just hope that we might smite the enemy
as in wondrous two score years gone by.

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 Then twas lord combed-over-rocket-boot
who sent the foe scurrying…
amidst their disarray,
e’en though their class was tributed to all
upon our great blue ball.

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 The seconds tick,
the minutes drag,
the hours stubborn in their reluctance…
to let go.

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 Now something else intrudes
upon my solitude.
The roar of lions displaced,
the coming homes no longer play,
the red is whited by a single thought.
Beyond the mirror of optimistic hope
lies a demon more powerful
than any force our fair land ever saw.

8 Leave a comment on verse 8 0 A sentiment too bitter to accept,
too ironic to perceive,
the haunting melody of a tune played oft
that pounded sorely through our land…
till penalties were paid,
then laid to rest.

9 Leave a comment on verse 9 0 Yet who are we to doubt those there…
while we sit here,
the cursed sons of Henry.
My shame too bitter to admit,
my bed uncomfortable to the touch,
my eyes lowered when she,
the one I love, asks,
“why…
why are you still here?”

10 Leave a comment on verse 10 0 Then doubt is cast to the winds,
as one walks down my tree-lined way.
He proudly wears those colours true,
and smiles,
shakes fists at me and you,
sings praises to those deities
that delight on field and screen.

11 Leave a comment on verse 11 0 Now silence rules his path,
his intake deep as gasped,
the words pour forth,
a torrent to stir the emotions of all….

12 Leave a comment on verse 12 0 ENG-ER-LAND!

© John McGuire 2nd July 2006

Notes

I wrote this just 3 hours before the Portugal game. Now, sad… still paying the penalty for my over-optimism.

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/the-roar-of-lions/