The category is now changed,

the box to tick is shuffled around

like a deck of cards in the hands

of a teenager drunk

on sideboard cider, cheap

and trashy, a sly grin of arrogant pissed up

humour, which now says I have found Middle-Age

and I scratch my head in confusion,

is it Middle-Age or is it just a shorter time

available in which to get things done.

 

Perhaps not the right way,

perhaps the way to see it

is that I have earned the right

to a half time orange

and the manager tell me once again

who I was supposed to be marking,

why I cannot run down the wing as quick

as I once did, my vision of play

obscured and my mind prone to wander

out of position;

regardless of the current state of my ability,

Shankly might have said,

“You should be worried son,

You’re only two

goals up at half time

and it’s the hardest position to defend.”

 

Ian D. Hall 2016