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

[Ama May Cooper]

Brilliant.. the truth that our innocence floods back in accidental misses when balls are dropped the laughter that echo's ... i miss the days when it was all so simple as who lost the game tidys up ... back in the youngest years of childhood, me stll having a few but games seem more tanined and aggressive now

[Shalini Dinesh]

lovely poem, everyone one of us have fond memories to recall of the times we played in hot sun, wind and at times even in rain, when we laughed and had fun playing with our friends, those moments can never be forgotten, lovely poem....

[Prateeksha Khot]

amazing poem. Reminded me of the days when we had time to go down and play actual outdoor games. loved it. And I observed that your daughter resembles you

[Belator Books]

You managed to make me forget the writer striving to rhyme; this sounded so natural. I loved this line: "The fleet foot breathless soldier". Well done.

[Coyote Poetry]

Your words are true. We don't enter the game. We won't know the feel of victory or loss. I like the poem. Description and the story is outstanding.
Coyote

[Mary]

i enjoyed it, the pictures showed the real connection to you but the poem could have been for anyone, all in all it makes you think and was very well written. good job!

[Elaine]

Very cute i like the memory feeling you get while reading it. great job as always.

[emmajoy]

So appreciate all the thoughts behind this write, the times when we, as children, had to find the strength and determination to do our best, whatever it was. Its a sad hard time being a child sometimes, making mistakes or not doing as well as we'd like to ..there's so much to take on board, so much to learn - as your poem shows.

The last stanza is a generous one .. words to understand, words to act upon.

This is so well written, fine meter .. fine finish.

[Lilly]

Very nice poem here Tate.

[Doreen]

Very nice write. Brings back memories of childhood. It flows well and you send a wonderful message.