Exile
For Bruce
He left behind the red-brick villas, gravel beds
and lakes of sand spread with the river’s flood.
In a land of gritstone walls where flat is rare,
an alien among worshippers of different gods,
he drills his children in the canticles of home.
Before they’re old enough to understand,
even less attend the ceremonials,
they can recite the sacred calls,
cheer with same-faith bands who pilgrim north.
At play these infant acolytes rehearse the adult rituals
with a model of the talisman, at an altar improvised
from bricks against the fence. Robed in red, they lift
their shining voices in defiant conjurations:
van Persie, Walcott, Fabregas.
Page(s) 46
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