Goal!
That is the word we want to hear for here
In this sea of deafening cries
Our emotions reach their highest altitudes
Through good music, good people, good attitudes –
Our team must win, no way around that –
We need goals, goals, more goals:
We must prove that we did not come here to play,
We came to conquer, to seize the day,
To make victory our mainstay
Goal!
I love the sound of that four-letter word, the sod
On which our rollercoaster moods play -
Our affinity to spectacular goals,
The infinity of a good match,
The divinity of our soccer-love drive us
Into states of consciousness where each kick,
Each dribble, each foul, each whistle eat away
Away our patience but still our flags sway
Whether chances go green or gray
Goal!
The euphoria never abates, always lightening
The pensive mood, never failing the ears
As we expect a pass, a shot, a goal
Sudden like bright-afternoon thunder and lightning –
As flashes from a thousand cameras capture
When the ball crossed the line and kissed the net –
The players know that they carry our hopes in each kick,
They know their misses make us sick,
They know only winning will do the trick
Goal!
Love for this game propels the vane of our energies
We will not cease now, we will not sing in vain
As we scream on top of our lungs, veins drawn on our necks
Losing is not an option because too much
Has been invested in this, too much life and love -
If eleven men can send us to soccer-heaven,
We will give them our all, we will stand tall
As they kick the ball, as they rise and fall,
As they win in the long haul
"The Soccer Fanatic" is part one of our impromptu tribute series to the Black Stars. Though the Black Stars' run is now over, we will keep posting new poems until July 9th. If you would like to contribute a tribute poem, send it to oneghanaonevoice(at)gmail.com.
The photo is provided by Nana Kofi Acquah.
2 comments:
This superbly written poem captures all the passions of the round leather. Look at this stanza for instance.
"Goal!
The euphoria never abates, always lightening
The pensive mood, never failing the ears
As we expect a pass, a shot, a goal
Sudden like bright-afternoon thunder and lightning –
As flashes from a thousand cameras capture
When the ball crossed the line and kissed the net –
The players know that they carry our hopes in each kick,
They know their misses make us sick,
They know only winning will do the trick"
With this vivid description one could just imagine the excitement, the sudden mood swings from glee to pensive, despair to hope, large-scale cases of hypertension, screaming, collapsing, sighing, and sometimes, extended periods of loss of appetite among some people all in the name of woeful performance of their favourite teams.
As for the Black Stars of Ghana, we can continue to support and urge them on to victory.
"Arise Ghana youths for your country
The nation demands your devotion"
THE HEART OF AFRICA HAS BEEN BROKEN
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