EARLY SEASON

By Terry Downes

Spring Training’s just a memory
The teams have now gone north
To fields where fans wait anxiously
New wonders to spring forth.

Off the buses, trains and planes
They hustle to the park
To show their loyal watching crowds
They’re not out for a lark.

But Opening Day is now gone by
With its bunting and its show;
And April’s wind asserts itself
To rain down sleet and snow.

The working games have now commenced
The money’s on the line
For every game that’s won could cause
October’s star to shine.

Pitchers blow on frozen hands
Umpires cut some slack,
The hurler’s lot’s a chilly one
And throwing cold’s a knack.

From dugouts batters warm and watch
To learn the pitcher’s style,
Does he throw by strength alone
Or more by stealth and guile?

On patrol far from the plate
Outfielders roam at will,
They clap and jog to keep at bay
The cut of April’s chill.

In the stands a hearty few
Keep vigil through the cold;
They cheer their heroes on to win
The start towards pennant gold.

So all together there they be
On springtime’s chilling date;
As baseball starts the season’s march
All eyes are on the plate!

****

Terry Downes is an attorney and retired District Court Clerk/Magistrate who went on to found and direct the MCC Program on Homeland Security, and long served as an adjunct professor at Suffolk Univ. Law School and UMASS-Lowell. He lives in Lowell with his wife Atty. Annie O’Connor.

This is the second in a series of nine poems about baseball (nine, like in nine innings of a game, or nine players on the field, etc.) which will appear on the first Friday of each month through the baseball season. Here are the previously posted poems in this series:

March – Spring Training

April – Opening Day