Football Poets

Ukraine- we’re there for you.

¶ 1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 The tears and bombs have fallen
Across the bleeding fields of
Ukraine, unbearably and agonisingly
For seemingly ages now
But last night the lone voice
Of civility and compassion
Rang around North London
Like the churches in Wembley
That greeted the Sunday mass
With pleasing tones of
Unwavering support for the
Broken hearted
And yet the jumping, bouncing
Multitudes of yellow and blue
Revelled in a temporary truce
Yesterday for a while
Pain swallowed up by
Yet more tablets of suffering
Where once sanity and peace
Reigned, now Ukraine
Defiant in the face of adversity
Russia. We fail to understand
Your savage hearts and heinous
Hellish deeds
Football will transcend
Any language of hate,
Hostility worn on Russian
Coats, lapels and shirts
That tear and tug at
Their dark depths of despair
But for a while at least
English hearts were strengthened
Unity and alliance
Of the highest order and rank
Backing you from the highest
Steeple to the quaintest
Pub or village hall
England we are there
For you unquestioningly
Even though Harry Kane
Fist pumped another penalty
And goal, another
To add to his coat of arms
On the crest of a wave
Then just before half time
Bukayo Saka cracked home an outrageous
Beauty, a goal to place
In the most well appointed
Art studio,
An Arsenal sensation
From the Emirates
Academy, curling his shot
Around the flimsy
A yellow and blue
Wall, like a wisp of
Imperious smoke
A rich Turkish Delight
Of a goal
Deliberately aimed
Into the safest
Wembley net, a
Goal with Saka’s
Signature to relish
For years to come
Meanwhile John Stones and Kyle Walker
Remind you of impressive slabs of marble
Like fortresses and portcullises
At the back for England
Reliable as the post
Declan Rice also on
Impenetrable duty
You’ll never find a way
Through him
And of course Jude Bellingham
Surely the most lustrous and
Resplendent of talents since
Quite possibly Gazza
Ball tied to decorous feet
From the most educational halls
Of football learning
Dribbling with almost ludicrous
Ease through the tangled
Bracken of a Ukranian defence
That must have longed for the
Final whistle
And of course Jack Grealish
James Maddison, the new prefect
At the head of the class
A Leicester fox in the box
Fearless as the intrepid
Explorer on another
Treacherous expedition
Of another England Euro
Journey into the known
And unknown,
Two wins out of two
Business as usual
Familiar template
We’ve been here before
Next up North Macedonia
And Malta
It couldn’t be easier
The scenarios never change
Yet when Germany
Beckons for England
We must hope, next year
The batons are not dropped
Lines not fluffed
Stage fright eats
Away at flagging confidence
England, back to square one
Almost but not quite
We may hope for more
It could be their year

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