Two gone in the ninth
we called the game won
but my dad said not yet
this Stevens could tie it with one swing
and then that white ball exploded across the sky
till it hurt our eyes to look
and my dad rose
brandishing a hot dog
spilling popcorn all over the aisle
crying: There it goes!
It was quite a lesson
before the centerfielder ran it down.
There was nothing we could do
except jump up cheering the Sox
crushing the popcorn
hoping nobody mistook us for out-of-towners
or the Vern Stevens fan club
except for my father
standing there
his eyes like the inside of a bottle
just days ago.