I’ve never published a book of my poems, I am not sure people read poetry – unless you are trapped in an academic setting. But I wrote the below poem a few days ago, and what triggered me to write this poem emerged from my high school days, and our football team, the Henry Clay ‘Blue Devils’. I was merely an observer for the Friday night games, and donated my sixteen year old body during the practice week. But even so, I was on the team.
Well, the team won every game, 14 – 0, and we won the state football championship. But as with all things in life, change comes with time, and we lost another teammate to that world beyond us. Another teammate had shared a photo of our friend from a few moments after the big game. It is a terrific photo. Behind his facemask, he had that gaze of happiness, hope and youthful exuberance. As another friend wrote, and “ode to the halcyon days of youth gone by.” I think that statement is quite on point. I’ve written about the first few pages from Fishing for Light, and the reason Professor Quan saw a ‘Kingfisher’. And I’ve written about the Greek myth, Alcyone. In modern parlance, it is a peaceful time, and so I pray for our friend to rest in peace.
Roll Blue Tide
Once upon a time a Blue Tidal Roll surged, and it surged,
It crashed blue wave, after blue wave against fourteen sandy shores,
Youthful Blue Devil faces – hidden behind steal cages,
As they navigated through each battle, they plundered as one,
They were one … they are still one,
But as we continue to orbit the sun,
With the certainty that tidal time has but only one master,
And those younger tidal waves that follow will continually come ashore,
And then our frothy essence will recede to reveal,
One less set of foot prints from that victorious team that came before,
But within the soul of that Blue Devil’s high school,
Behind a long glass window,
Hides the collective picture of those proud Blue Devil’s,
Frozen in time together, forever from 1981,
But it is within those flashes from our collective memories,
We can all take great cheer,
Because we are all still together,
Within the spirited Blue Devil heart, it beats, and thumps,
The knowledge – Once a Blue Devil, always a Blue Devil!
And so, the Blue Tide Rolls …
NS
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