Thursday 16 July 2009

Still prattling on....

Im still prattling on about Cricket.... I love this poem by Michael Laskey which seems to capture exactly my own thoughts on the afterlife. Its been a hard week (everybody say awww, poor Michael......lol). I promise something more constructive tomorrow...or possibly Saturday...or even Sunday.......lol.


ON HAVING GIVEN UP CRICKET

I shall play cricket in heaven
in return for the afternoons
gladly given to the other
pleasure of others’ leisure.

I shall walk, without haste, to the wicket
and nod to the angels kitted
in their whites waiting to discern
the kind of batspirit I am.

And one stroke in heaven, one dream
of a cover drive will redeem
every meeting of bat
and ball I’ve done without.

And I’ll bowl too, come on to bowl
leg-breaks with such control
of flight and slight changes of pace
that one over will efface

the faint regret I now feel.
But best of all I shall field:
alert in the heavenly deep,
beyond the boundary of sleep.

from 'Thinking of Happiness' (Peterloo, 1991).

4 comments:

  1. Well, you seem to have kept your sense of humor through the rough week. Hope everything gets better.

    And just because you asked, "Awww poor Michael."

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  2. Sorry you've had a rough week, Michael. Poetry has a way of soothing all ills.

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  3. Hello Michael,

    I'm so glad you posted this. Ever since I heard it on Channel 4, advertising the cricket, I have been trying to find the words. A friend, who was a good cricketer in his day, passed away recently and I thought how appropriate this would have been for him. I hope you don't mind, but I've pinched it!

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  4. "Awww poor Michael" but "truly great madness cannot be achieved without significant intelligence".
    Henrik Tikkanen

    Hope you feel better by now.

    Any idea who read the poem on Radio 4 or Channel 4?
    Dolores

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