HARDBALL SONNET

Take your stance: is it open or closed?
Have the bat ready – up off your shoulder.
Now guess what’s coming. What do you suppose?
By the time it arrives you’ll be one second older.
Pick up the ball as it leaves the pitcher’s hand.
You’re looking for one that’s in your zone –
A strike that’s headed for the heartland,
not inside, outside, high or low.
Although you depend so much on your eye,
It’s your hands you must learn to trust.
When the ball moves, they’ll adjust.
Is it ever enough, merely, to try?
Keep your head down on the ball.
You’ll know it when you get it all.