Many who have watched the Greatest World Cup Ever can agree the last-minute battles of underdog teams has yet to be matched by the bold, selfless, and noble derring-do of the USA side in their tragic match against Belgium - tragic, in the sense that Homer's work is, because so often the greatest are the flawed few, who fall before their time. Especially deserving of praise is Tim Howard, already from this game a national icon in America back home, a goal keeper whose excellence, unnerved and ever-willing to leap and save, epitomises everything worth emulating about the beautiful game. Beyond those who dive and cheat and bite, there stands the keeper with the stirring record of saves, Tim Howard, previously unsung, unheralded, now seen for what he is on the world stage. In order to keep the fires of his memory lit, Eyewear welcomes poems inspired by this hero. The first is by British poet Wynn Wheldon.
ALBERT
CAMUS CONSOLES TIM HOWARD
C’est
la vie, Tim. It’s ridiculous.
Man
of the Match but on the losing team.
Absurd.
But bear this is mind:
You cannot create experience
You must undergo it.
You
may think yourself unlucky, but
You
have shared your finest moment
With
the largest numbers, and such fortune
Is
known by few. Those spilling beer in the pub
Or
coffee in the sitting room
Long
to give as you have given.
You
have found more in defeat
Than
ever in victory, Leonidas.copyright the author 2014.
Wynn
Wheldon is a freelance writer. His pamphlet ‘Tiny Disturbances’ was
published by Acumen in 2012. His poetry has appeared in numerous journals,
including Ambit, Interpreter’s House, London Magazine, The Rialto and The
Spectator. He lives in London and, for his sins, supports Tottenham
Hotspur.
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