|

Today’s the day war broke out

joe morris

Tuesday, September 3rd, 2024

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 For today was the day
The nation’s darkest hour
The outbreak of the
Second World War
85 years ago today
That sombre dawn when the guns
Were fired and the
Bombs of destruction and
Carnage across the globe
Tore through dumbfounded cities
Millions of villages
Ripping out helpless nations
Football stunned and paralysed
By the low, dull thud of grenade
The rattling chorus of bullets
Pumping out horrendous death
Seemingly indefinitely
A five year barrage of brutality
Killing fields and broken hearts
But football had to stop
On the day Neville Chamberlain
Subsequently declared war on Germany
Poor Blackpool for it was they
Who were top of the pile
Top of the old First Division
But never to taste the nectar
Of trophies at end of season
Revelry, if only
Hitler had not
Lost his temper
Sir Stanley Matthews
Dreaming of delirious waltzes
On the wing
Still shuffling and shimmying
Deceptively, mockingly
But never to be a winner
During that fateful season
Stan Mortensen, Bill Perry,
Jimmy Armfield in later years
So we’ll never know now
If the Tangerine Seasiders
From the Golden Mile
Of Blackpool would ever
Have paraded the League championship
So the wailing sirens went
The nation hid in underground
Railway stations
Forming lifelong friendships
But no football any more
For the time being
Just wiped out completely
By terrorism and frightening
Tyranny, imprisoned by
Evil forces
Flattened but hoping
That one day commonsense
Prevailed, but it was six
Years without football
Unthinkable but true
No more local derbies
Good natured,
Cheerful ribaldry
Managers at war
With opposition dug outs
But then, suddenly
A library of quiet
Silence,
Those nefarious Nazi
Murderers and barbarians
Saw to that
And yet it could have been
So different on this
Third day of September
If only Blackpool could
Have continued winning ways
Lancashire hot pots
Would have tasted of
Liquid gold
And football would
Have thrived and
Not put on hold

Notes

Here’s my poetic tribute to football and war. Football would have to be stopped for five years during the Second World War, today 85 years ago today.

Tags:

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/todays-the-day-war-broke-out/