Eyes intent on the ball,

Body poised,

And the legs primed for action,

The cleats dug into the turf.

He moved swiftly,

Almost furiously

To intercept the rushing ball.

He kicked it long and hard

Past the forwards,

Past the defense,

And past the Goalie,

Angling between the goal posts

Into the corner of the net.

The ball bounced back

To a rush that came

With the uproarious applause

From the stands, “Goal!”

 

Eyes intent on the words,

Day or night,

In a corner

Or under the blanket,

In the sunlight

Or with a flashlight,

He pored over pages and pages.

Oh, the delight

Of traversing in mythical lands

And wading into heroic magnificence,

Transcending

The mundane and the prosaic,

Sailing or flying

Into realms of fancy

Captured between pages

To his internal applause!