Nine Boys

eNine Boysf^[1]

 

Remembering How the Warm Days of Summer

 Served as the Backdrop for a Rite of Passage

Between the Dreams of Childhood

And the Sweeter Delusions

Of Park Board Baseball

 

-P-

 

When nine boys burst upon a field

In white that burns the eye,

 

We tip our hats unto the blaze

Beneath the summer sky

 

One ball

 

Is given at the start,

 

One ball

 

To play the game,

Unblemished in the hand of youth

That hurls the ancient flame

 

When nine boys burst upon a field,

Old men rise to their feet

 

And, in applause, they celebrate

The circle made complete.

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[1] Wearing uniforms similar to the Los Angeles Dodgers’ “home whites,” Paris’s fifth-grade baseball team took the field to open the 1960 North Minneapolis Midget Baseball season. His grandfather Willy, a 1920s wannabe professional, rose to his feet.