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September Ist, 1939.

 

The cricket season reached its end that day.

We mothballed all the stumps and pads and gloves

And pondered over matches not yet played,

The stolen opportunities for some.

We thought of runs we scored and catches claimed,

And contemplated England for a time

And what impending winter may well bring.

 

How many years would pass till we again

Undo our bags to twirl our oiled bats

And feel the thump of leather on the blade?

Meanwhile, would our eleven all come back;

Would raindrops on the square turn into blood?

Would gaps appear, ambitions be cut short,

Would war conflate its awful self with sport?

◄ Golf Game

Climate Change and us (Updated version of a poem posted on 24 September 2020) ►

Comments

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Stephen Gospage

Tue 5th Oct 2021 17:55

Indeed, John, although the boat discovery was something quite extraordinary. But still overshadowed, it seems.

Thanks for the like, Aisha.

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John Coopey

Tue 5th Oct 2021 07:49

An insight into one of the thousands of “normal” activities about to be curtailed by the unseen moving shadow. I seem to think the Saxon boat find at Sutton Hoo was largely overlooked as news for some reason.

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Stephen Gospage

Mon 4th Oct 2021 17:18

Thanks to you, Erika.

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Stephen Gospage

Sun 3rd Oct 2021 21:17

And Greg, thanks for mentioning the Auden poem. It is one of the greatest ever written and deals with aspects of the past, present and future surrounding that fateful day, with unforgettable language, such as the "elderly rubbish" that dictators talk. Can't think who that reminds me of.

My little ditty, in contrast, is a snapshot or ordinary people "on the edge of the unknown", as Keith says.

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Stephen Gospage

Sun 3rd Oct 2021 17:37

Thanks to Keith, Greg and KJ for your kind comments, and to Holden, Robert, Pete and Kelvin for the likes.

What fascinated me was the idea that everything stopped on the day that the Nazis invaded Poland. I suppose that, as you say, Greg, you can use the experience of cricketers as a metaphor for everything changing from one day to the next. There were many cricketers who never came back and many others who lost the best part of their careers (or were unable to play at all), as happened in so many other walks of life. Of course, the victory over fascism and the subsequent achievements of Attlee government are something to be proud of.

I'm glad you found the poem convincing, KJ. I really appreciate your comments. As Keith says, not knowing what would happen and how long it would all last must have been the worse part.

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kJ Walker

Sun 3rd Oct 2021 10:09

The skill of this is the convincing way that it was written in the first person. I could have believed that you were actually there.

The bitter irony of the piece is how people's thoughts were on the loss of a cricket season, without realising the extent of what was about to happen.

A very clever write.

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Greg Freeman

Sat 2nd Oct 2021 23:49

Cricket is a useful and skilful metaphor for the ensuing fight against the Nazis, Stephen. There was a sense of the British concept of fair play and decency being outraged by Hitler. I wonder how much of those qualities we as a country still retain today. And the 1940s was less of a 'low, dishonest decade' - as in the Auden poem that refers to the 1930s - than many others, as far as this country was concerned, at any rate. We defeated Fascism, and set up the NHS during that time - two things to be very proud of.

https://poets.org/poem/september-1-1939

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keith jeffries

Sat 2nd Oct 2021 18:46

A time to remember as war was imminent. A moment of time as people lived on the edge of the unknown. Did anyone think it would last for six terrible years and change the face of history as bats and ball were simply put away for a season.

A poem of nostalgia, a time long forgotten but only remembered by a few.

A very good poem
Thank you for this

Keith

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