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This Football Life

P Maguire

Saturday, July 31st, 2004

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 Through the summers long gone and the winters to be
The songs that were sung by my old friends and me
So what of the glorious days of the past
The nights that we lost and those that we danced
Dressed up with a passion that tore up the rules
Left us forgotten but never as fools
We cheered for our heroes and climbed back in our beds
And rose the next day sobered up Reds

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 Our hearts in our throats our hopes down the drain
But give us one chance and we’d do it again
We’d copy our heroes we’d borrow their names
Do the kids of today still do the same?
The streets that were pitches the bedroom floor parks
Breaking our windows but never our hearts
The moments still shining those titles we won
They glitter like fireflies then all too soon gone

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 I am there at the old place with the ball at my feet
We’d take on the world and never taste defeat
With our Liverpool colours pegged out in the rain
Results scratched on desk lids are all that remain
Went with me Dad at the young age of 7
To a place they long ago twinned with heaven
Saw 11 red shirts and they stole my heart
From the moment the match kicked off to start

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 Sat in The Kemmy tho’ transfixed by The Kop
And knew then that day that with them I belonged
They roared with a passion when the great man came out
Shanks waved to his people, of them he was proud
Saw Ian St John like St Paul convert each cross
Saw Lawler like a ghost and Cally he was Boss
Big Ron Yeats played with heart and gave his soul
Said Shanks: “With him defending we could play Arthur Askey in goal!”

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 The miracles flowed just like wine into water
Teams that came here were like lambs to the slaughter
And when carried to heaven wrapped in banners of red
“Its sound ‘ere but it’s not Anfield!” one sad Kopite said
Saw Rushie boots strike fast like a cobra’s tooth
Saw The Arse steal the title when Thomas made it two
But for over 30 years this love has flowed like blood
And I wouldn’t change my faith, even if I could!

Notes

Parry Magure (2004)

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a long ball or a short ball as long as it’s the right ball”.- Sir Bob Paisley

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/this-football-life-3/