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The Substitute’s Lament

Denys E. W. Jones

Friday, January 28th, 2005

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 I warmed up on the touchline,
And heard the Gaffer say:
“Give pounds, give pence, give dollars, cents,
But not the ball away.
That plastic-coated leathern sphere,
Pray, keep it at your feet.
Or pass it straight to some team-mate,
With luck we’ll not get beat.”

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 Full nine and eighty minutes gone,
I pulled my tracksuit off.
At lightning speed raced on the pitch,
Yet those wise words forgot.
Though pounds and pence my pockets fill,
Alas, that ball I lost.
And Gaffer, me and ten team-mates
Are left to count the cost…

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 29/1/05
Denys E. W. Jones

© 29/1/05

Notes

Like my earlier poem, When we were winning Two-Nil, this a re-working of a poem by A. E. Housman entitled When I was One and Twenty.

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/the-substitutes-lament/