Games Children Play

Aris and Tate

 

The games we played in childhood

made to ready us for our life

The fleet foot breathless soldier

forged to mimic our daily strife

 

These lessons turn round and round

with the sweet spinning of a child

Taught so that we may never forget

to make a man of the meek and mild

 

Somewhere between the child and man

we forget sometimes the reason

Why children love to play these games

as varied as each new season

 

The happy chimes of the baseball field

like notes from far flung rain

Carry us back to our childhood

reliving the laughter and the pain

 

The giddy chatter across the field

lofted high on the drifting breeze

Echo our life's fear of failure

wishing, if only time could freeze

 

We find much more when we lose

of just what we are made of

Discovering the test of character

that all good men so love

 

In life it's not the ones who condemn

nor win most times they play

It's friends who forgave our weakness

whose spirits echo through our day

 

 Aris

Author's Note

Haven't we all thought back to the moment we were up to bat?
With the weight of the world on us we then struck out.
Baseball is the national sport here. It is the only sport to have a commissioner all powerful who is in charge of guarding the integrity of the game. In 1919 the first commissioner Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis was elected to the lifetime post to combat the cheating that the White Sox had done in the world series. Even though all were acquitted he banned them all from the game for life saying "No player who gambles on the game of baseball or sits in conference with others who do and does not tell his franchise will ever play the game again." He added "What these men have done is to plant a doubt in the minds of every school boy who ever looked up to them in awe. Baseball the great leveler of men from all walks of life. They have violated the founding principle upon which the game is grounded. Forever taking away the innocence that comes of a child's sense of fair-play"!
The White Sox were for years then after refered to as the Black Sox!

Childhood:
Softened by Times consummate plush,
How sleek the woe appears
That threatened childhoods citadel
And undermined the years!
Bisected now by bleaker griefs,
We envy the despair
That devastated childhoods realm,
So easy to repair.

Emily Dickinson

Reviews

[-Scribe in Style-]

Fab, going back to the childhood, how much we would enjoy a simple walk to the park and kicking the ball from here to there on the field..
Reading your poem reminded me of the cheer from friends pushing us on to win the race or to go on and get that goal or complete the rounder..
But more importantly, it does resemble the distance of thought and perspective through the years, and the symbolization. Deep meaning into what sports gear us up for.. and what we face as tough challenges which actually are no different to the sports we played..

[Tate Morgan]

The difference is life unlike sport has little mercy for the weak thank you

[外人 (Gaiji..]

Nice poem. Nice to see some games are universal, like the fleet foot soldiers, interesting to see some are not, I never played baseball for example, here in Italy it's not a thing.
Again, I see your poetics sparkling in every verse of this poem.

[Tate Morgan]

Thank you Baseball is the national sport here. It is the only sport to have a commisioner all powerful who is in charge of guarding the integrity of the game .In 1919 the first commisioner Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis was elected to the lifetime post tocombat the cheating that the white sox had done in the world series . Even though all were aquitted he banned them all from the game for life saying "No player who gambles on the game of baseball or sits in conference with others who do and does not tell his franchise will ever play the game again." He added What these men have done is to plant a doubt in the minds of every American school boy who ever looked up tho them with honor. Forever crushing their sense of fairplay and honesty"!

[Sharon L.H. Kelly]

A nostalgic look back to childhood as recalled by an adult. I really enjoyed this, Tate!

[Tate Morgan]

Sharon thank you yes a day at the park with my kids and i was right back there myself

[Sharon L.H. Kelly]

It was a lovely place, was it not? And it prepared us for so much.

[Tate Morgan]

oh yeah heaven

[Akashi]

Truly and thoughtfully said, my great poet of a friend.

[Tate Morgan]

Thank you Akashi I appreciate that

[Akashi]

You are welcome, Mr. Morgan.

[Cranky Old Bear]

I am pretty sure I commented on this before.. But nevertheless.. It is still just a great as before and always my friend.. :) Been way behind trying to keep up with everyone... lol

[Tate Morgan]

Thank you so much As always I am glad to be able to share these

[Dayran]

Like missing out on a rhyme ... in a poem ... the sporting attitude sometimes takes the attitude that they don't always rhyme ... perfectly. A nostalgic write huckleberry ... now ... where did you put the missing rhyme?

[Tate Morgan]

Thank you Sri I suppose I enjoy the athletics of my children the best.

[Leslie Philibert]

Well written, with a mixed media approach..

[Tate Morgan]

Thank you Les i am always worried that the fun of the sports will one day end. But I suppose grand kids will fill that void in the future

[Rita L. Sev]

There is nothing like the victory of childhood - whether we won the games or not... Nicely penned, Tate.

[Tate Morgan]

thanks rita

[Josie E. Cook M. A.]

Childhood play and games that connect you with others.

[Tate Morgan]

They connect to the past to the hopes and dreams that drove out childhood for many years Thank you

[Josie E. Cook M. A.]

The spirits that echo are from those past childhood experiences and teach us about life--sometimes cruel and sometimes true!

[Josie E. Cook M. A.]

You are welcome! :)

[David O Whalen (O Haol..]

nothing to nit-pick here Tate. You have an exceptional touch with both rhyme and meter. (and subject matter) I like that all your lines and verses are connected. Far too many poets (in my estimation) write lines that make no sense at all and rhyme just for the sake of rhyme. I think poets should never post until they have several people read their work aloud. If they did, I wonder how many poems they wouldn't post? I wish more poets had your ability to know when a poem is ready and right. Appreciate ya' Tate

[Tate Morgan]

Thanks dave I try to have an underlying purpose to my writes an tell a story

[Tate Morgan]

I recently stopped writing for awhile in an effort to see the threads of our lives and how they effect us.i find there are truths to be found in the little things we experience each day