Light Verse Honoring Wimbledon Finalists

By Robin Bates | Published: July 6, 2013

Murray Djokovic

I came across a new blog–“The Daily Sports Poem”–that plans to merge poetry and sport. In the words of the author, it’s “a daily blog combining those tragically estranged partners in beauty: verse and big time sports opinion.”  The blog got underway last month and has a few poems about the Wimbledon tournament. The most recent captures yesterday’s riveting semi-final between Juan Martin del Potro and Novak Djokovic, one of the best matches I have seen in long time. “Schvitz,” incidentally, is Yiddish for “sweat.”

Juan Martin del Potro
Put on a helluva show.

He made Novak Djokovic
Schvitz.

And then there’s a poem about Andy Murray, written prior to his semi-final match (which he won) against Jerzy Janowicz. While it alludes to the weight that Murray carries as he strives to be the first Brit to win Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936, it also points to an even heavier burden. My favorite stanza is the final one, with its reference to the 1996 massacre of 16 children and an adult at the Scottish school of Dunblane. Murray was a child in the school at the time:

His critics have been silenced, drowned out by cheers.
Andy Murray has reached the Wimbledon semi-finals for the last five years.
 
This year it’s Janowicz, then Djokovic. The challenge is forewritten.
His racket bags carry the hopes of Great Britain.
 
A nation watches as Murray steps onto court.
More weight on his shoulders than anyone else in sport.
 
His gaunt face tells its own story. A pressure that will always remain.
A hero still haunted by the ghosts of Dunblane.

The author of the blog promises that there will be “a new poem composed and posted every day (assuming both an internet connection and inspiration are available).” Here’s praying that he regularly finds both.

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