– for my son
It is a melding of two parts:
a fearless grace you always had,
combined with years of training,
that lets you slide to meet the raging,
spinning, speeding ball, square up,
take the chance hop off your chest,
and make the play – pain
an afterthought, if thought at all.
This is the serious game toward which
all work that has a part in glory moves.
Give it your all and swear allegiance
to the dirt. Nothing done well, not any
scrap of it, nor all the tears it takes
to lay it smooth, is ever waste.
This is your faith, your rest,
back to the wall, your home.