Wessex Hymn
We used to play football on winter fields
on ice which hardly melted all the day long
by arches strung at a right angle to the Thames.
We used to play all summer long, or just a day
with tourists in Alexandra Gardens
careful of flower beds to a degree
as when we played by decades of greetings cards
faded into a single blue in the summerhouse
of our grandparents’ house in Ferndown.
We used to play under the relief road
‘tunnel amusement’, kicking the ball to the roof
on a road made safe by concrete bollards.
We used to play as if our lives were somewhere else
waiting for us, and I suppose they were.
We once played in Hamworthy Rec
pretending our names were ‘Paxo’ and ‘Oxo’
and though you became a professional
that game was lost to laughter unrestrained,
a total eclipse of cool by Poole Harbour.
Those were the games and ‘those were the days’
is what of the unrecoverable is said
but with a thought to multitudinous future games
and a son’s requested sea shanty in the lounge
I hear the first Mercian hymn echoing
in Wessex, heed its end and ‘sing it again.’
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joe morris
25th October 2026
Jason Prasad
24th October 2026
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joe morris
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8th October 2026
Clik The Mouse
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4th October 2026
Denys E. W. Jones
2nd October 2026
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22nd September 2026
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Crispin’s Corner
In Memoriam
Kick It Out & Christmas Truce
Latest Comments
24th October 2026 at 2:31 pm
Ha!! Just brilliant! I can hear this being sung. So funny!
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24th October 2026 at 2:28 pm
I love this verse as I know exactly that feeling of living in a fantasy while kicking the ball as a kid. Makes me wonder what fantasy world professional players live in when they dribble, pass and shoot? Hopefully it’s doesn’t always feel like routine job fired them
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28th July 2026 at 9:40 pm
Hi Denys. Thanks for your kind words. I could have mentioned Dixie Dean but decided not to.
Best wishes, mate
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26th July 2026 at 3:47 pm
Great knowledge of Everton history, Joe.
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23rd July 2026 at 6:54 pm
Hi Jason,
Sorry I forgot to congratulate you on your excellent poem as well.
Keep well
Joe
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23rd July 2026 at 6:43 pm
Hi Jason,
Thanks so much for your kind words about Kevin Keegan, a footballer of legendary status and deeply missed.
Best wishes
Joe
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23rd July 2026 at 12:01 pm
Thank you, Crispin. I will defo encorage my bunch to contribute and will of course clear it with staff room.
Many thanks
Jase
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22nd July 2026 at 6:48 pm
Great poem Jase.
You are a man of my own heart …
And great to hear that you your students poems from our site.
Keep on and more please
if ever some of your students write anything suitable for here and most importantly they give you permission to publish them, you can always do so under your name referencing their names and the school..and year.
Best Crispin
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22nd July 2026 at 10:29 am
I think this is best thing I have read so far about the legend. Thanks
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22nd July 2026 at 10:22 am
One of the greats, inspired my generation of school kids in the 80s
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