I’m not yet fully awake when
the pain slams into me
upper thigh on the right side
so sharp I gasp
Will it ever end, I wonder
as I struggle to sit up in bed
I can’t roll over, and when I try
It feels like I’m being stabbed
I was agile and fleet
on the bases, and I could
hit to all fields, but now it’s
a later time and all that remain
are the memories
one day free of the pain is what I ask
wearing a pair of gyms instead of the braces
and I tear from first to third ending with a
hook slide that kicks up the dust
and the girls cheer