Netted

Netted

a milestone introspective from a collection entitled "Cry Me A River" by Gary Knapton

You'll be born in '71 

On a Saturday afternoon

Just as the tannoys are blaring the tune

All through your school years you'll run with the ball

Early on match days you'll wake standing tall

This bliss isn't normal

It's bliss

It won't last forever

It won't last long

Such is the way of the things you'll miss

Life will grab you, lad

And take you on a journey

Away from freedom and towards the gurney

And love, work and families

A life of no time

For dribbling and balance and rhythm and rhyme

Then, in your thirties

Though you can't know it

The clarion call

Steve will go wide and break loose with the ball

He'll know where you'll be and you'll know where you'll go

You'll drop off the full-back and start moving in

He'll cross without looking

The time-honoured line

It sits up and hangs

You're suspended from time

Then the whip-crack and sweet dull thud 

Of true contact

Of leather on proofed leather

The cleanest of drives

Will echo through the heat of a blue summer morning in May 2004

Enjoy it

This is the last goal you will ever score

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