Time for cliché corner
"It's the hope I can't stand"
Bottom line is I should say
All optimism should be banned.
On the way to a play-off
Doing it Hamburg style
Round-robin in a group
So it's not such a trial.
No winner-takes-all
Repeat of Bognor pain
If we lose today
Wednesday's try again.
It may not be The Hamlet
But nerves still kick in
The coach gets near to Bremen
Desperate for an Altona win.
A victory up north today
Won't mean job done yet
But three points in the bag
Will make us more of a promotion bet.
The tedium of the bus
Staring at motorway for the trip
Boisterous drinking and songs
No peace for a kip!
Can't understand the chants
But soak up the buzz
Like a little kid inside
That's what football does.
Aside from that I'm lucky
I've got my dreams and hope
Is it really fifteen years since
Admitting I couldn't cope?
Today's the actual day
That I gave up the drink
There really wasn't much lower
That I realistically could sink.
A decade and a half of sobriety
Today with the Altona crowd
If anything's worth recovery
Fussball Freunschaft makes me proud.
Here today in Bremen
I'm desperate to win
But if we go and lose
I'll hide a modest grin.
For today's still special
If we lose the game
I'll still be celebrating the moment
I kicked my alcohol shame.
Here they accept me
For who I am
Not hiding behind a bottle
Life was a total sham.
Today I'm going for a 'double, double'
And I don't mean pie & mash
I can now live a life
Without going on the lash.
Add to that a play-off win
Hopefully the first of three
And life may not be perfect
But where I am suits me.
Dulwich Poet 28th May 2017
( I wrote this on the coach to Bremen, for the first of my German side Altona 93's play-off matches...we won 1-0! Today is fifteen years to the day since I gave up drinking. What a wonderful 'birthday' present this game was!)
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