There’s nothing more definitive,
than the home team announcer’s call,
“Walk-off home run! Walk off home run,”
assuredly not as famous as Russ Hodges’
“The Giants win the pennant!
The Giants win the pennant,”
but thrilling nonetheless.
In a world of shifting moralities,
and less-than-certain answers,
it is particularly satisfying to see
that the suddenness of a walk-off home run
decides the outcome once and for all.
One knows then with such striking clarity
who has won, who has lost,
that it makes it far easier to face
an unsettling and problematic world.
Let me know where I stand. Do not confuse me
with muddled maybes and puzzling half-truths.
Let me stand in the batter’s box,
with the score tied in the bottom of the ninth,
and let me decide with one mighty swing,
and my own free will, whether I win or lose the game.
THE POETRY OF THE GAME