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

[Lourisa]

The last stanza just summons the poem up so beautifully. Amazing vivid imagery I got, not only from your poem, but also from my past. A sad tone to it as well, time can do many things, but it can't erase the echoes. Lovely poem,Tate, as always.

[Tate Morgan]

thank you so nice of you to come over I write about the things i witness in my own lifew

[Dr. Wood ?]

good stuff Tate, I often worry for today's kids as they don't seem to play now...they just seem to GROW

[Tate Morgan]

Hi Doc so nice to see you I am running oin empty need an inspiration to get going again

[Dr. Wood ?]

know the feeling Tate...Sometimes it is best to stand back and take a few days off from writing...you can easily burn out of ideaS

[Tate Morgan]

I find if i stop awhile the well fills back up

[Dr. Wood ?]

yup......I am off to work now and I often find ideas come in whilst I work....Got a pad and pen with me at all times..Have a good day Tate, it is almost 9.00am here

[Angel]

Ahhh, yes...the happy, carefree days of innocent childhood.
And the lessons we learned without even realizing it, that have stayed with us throughout our lives...
Oh, Tate, you have captured it all so beautifully. I'm feeling nostalgic, here...and a bit wistful.
You are a genius with that pen of yours...

[Tate Morgan]

Thank you dear. I know what it is going to be with us throughout our lives Those who tortured us and those who through kindness helped us along

[Baby Ricochet]

Where I was from we went camping, hunting and fishing. There's a scene in the Deer Hunter where Denero is back home from Nam. He's out hunting deer, he spots a beautiful buck, raises his rifle, peers down the scope but can't pull pull the trigger. I know that feeling. Great poem Tate. You are the master

[Tate Morgan]

Thank you Mark we all have those moments influenced by our past experience we change from who we were to who we may become

[Blue Belle]

Nice

[roarke]

many things come so naturally to the young, imprint them before they know it. It's all part of character. But no one knows the nature or strength of the character until it's tested. Games are a good way to test and opportunity to guide and help mold that character without dire consequence. Well said Tate.

[Priyankaabhilaashi]

Great..!!!

[George Love]

I love this, and the action shots to go with it are really inspiring as well. This just flows so easily, nicely phrased.

[Rogelio Chavez]

I enjoy how you write your words. They jsust have a flow to it. Great poem.