Friday 1 July 2011

Basketball at Downing

In May, I met up with friends old and new, one who'd come all the way from Taiwan.
We played some basketball and I was inspired to write this poem.

Under the eye of our Lady
And English Martyrs Catholic Church
You know what it means to fly free
And gazing up not at her spire
But reaching for some nearer goal
We circle, bustle and ascend
From a manger to a basket,
From a basket ever upwards,
Bounce, bounce, step, the shouts go up
And back we go to try again.
To try again
Is all we really do,
Is all we need to do
To see another chance slip by
And yet recall the still crisp sound
Of the ball that flies through the hoop
Without blessing of rim or board
In sweet perfection never found
Because in truth there is no end,
No basket of holy idols,
No church to sanction how we play,
But just ourselves to seek within
And let the great souls light our way.

–okei (15/05/2011)

4 comments: