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A Very Real Threat

Peter Goulding

Wednesday, October 27th, 2004

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 It’s been a long and tiring trek,
My blistered feet are weary.
The knapsack chafes my sunburnt neck,
My eyes are dark and bleary.

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 I pause upon the dark hill’s brow,
And view the town below it.
I feel elated but somehow
I manage not to show it.

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 Down the road to journey’s end,
My aching feet transport me,
With just this walking stick, this friend,
To bolster and support me.

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 But suddenly I hear a noise,
The sound of someone running.
My face goes pale, I lose my poise,
The steady pace is stunning.

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 Alone now on this lonely road,
Alone and quite defenceless,
And heavy, heavy seems my load –
Was this whole journey senseless?

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 I stumble on and glance behind
As shadows merge and thicken.
Can it be only in my mind,
Those footsteps seem to quicken?

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 He was not there when last I looked,
The road was quite deserted,
As though he were from mid-air plucked,
And in my life inserted.

8 Leave a comment on verse 8 0 From where has this dark spirit come
To hasten my perdition?
Wherefore should I be marked by some
Inhuman apparition?
Is this I ask, to be my fate,
Despite my fierce resistance?
Caught before the garden gate,
My home in striking distance?

9 Leave a comment on verse 9 0 These monsters foul and vile contrive
To bar this pilgrim’s progress,
Yet with my faith I will survive
This ogre or this ogress.

10 Leave a comment on verse 10 0 Oh Lord, please light my darkened way,
And banish those who dog me.
Grasp those sturdy sticks, I pray,
With which they try to flog me.

11 Leave a comment on verse 11 0 Guard my back with thy great shield,
And smite this new attacker,
Stand by me firm and do not yield,
Although the sky grows blacker

12 Leave a comment on verse 12 0 Walk beside me in this hour
Of deep and darkest danger.
Protect me with thy soothing power
From this pursuing stranger.

13 Leave a comment on verse 13 0 Oh cleave his tongue and bind his feet
Send demons to torment him,
And in thy righteousness defeat
The Devil that hath sent him.

© Peter Goulding 27th October 2004

Notes

An unbelievable 8 game winning run by Cork City has brought them to within 4 points of a Shels team that were coasting towards the title. This Friday – Shels v Cork!!

Source: https://footballpoets.org/poems/a-very-real-threat/