Games Children Play

Aris and Tate

 

The games we played in childhood

made to ready us for our life

The fleet foot breathless soldier

forged to mimic our daily strife

 

These lessons turn round and round

with the sweet spinning of a child

Taught so that we may never forget

to make a man of the meek and mild

 

Somewhere between the child and man

we forget sometimes the reason

Why children love to play these games

as varied as each new season

 

The happy chimes of the baseball field

like notes from far flung rain

Carry us back to our childhood

reliving the laughter and the pain

 

The giddy chatter across the field

lofted high on the drifting breeze

Echo our life's fear of failure

wishing, if only time could freeze

 

We find much more when we lose

of just what we are made of

Discovering the test of character

that all good men so love

 

In life it's not the ones who condemn

nor win most times they play

It's friends who forgave our weakness

whose spirits echo through our day

 

 Aris

Author's Note

Haven't we all thought back to the moment we were up to bat?
With the weight of the world on us we then struck out.
Baseball is the national sport here. It is the only sport to have a commissioner all powerful who is in charge of guarding the integrity of the game. In 1919 the first commissioner Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis was elected to the lifetime post to combat the cheating that the White Sox had done in the world series. Even though all were acquitted he banned them all from the game for life saying "No player who gambles on the game of baseball or sits in conference with others who do and does not tell his franchise will ever play the game again." He added "What these men have done is to plant a doubt in the minds of every school boy who ever looked up to them in awe. Baseball the great leveler of men from all walks of life. They have violated the founding principle upon which the game is grounded. Forever taking away the innocence that comes of a child's sense of fair-play"!
The White Sox were for years then after refered to as the Black Sox!

Childhood:
Softened by Times consummate plush,
How sleek the woe appears
That threatened childhoods citadel
And undermined the years!
Bisected now by bleaker griefs,
We envy the despair
That devastated childhoods realm,
So easy to repair.

Emily Dickinson

Reviews

[Zeitgeist Manifesto]

This reminds me of how much I loved playing little league football on what seriously could have been the worst team in the history of football. Or any sport for that manner. I still have great memories. Its amazing to have friends as adults who are still there for us when we come up short. It is a blessing. This poem inspired a lot of thought. I enjoy the calm wisdom in your words.

[Tate Morgan]

Zeitgeist. What a pleasure it is to hear from you today. It’s funny how these games are the great leveler in our society. And how we might remember that one day when we struck out and lost the game longer than we will ever remember any other event. And how much weLove our friends who for gave our weakness

[Fran Marie]

you capture the spirit
of friendship here .. I think
at sometime we all fear
our failures will make us
feel not worthy..its those
true friends that lift us
up out of the doldrums
and despair..

nice write

[Tate Morgan]

Thank you Fran. I don’t remember any of the baseball games with Meijers but I do remember my best friend who is there with me through it all. And while we fear of not being worthy. Somehow their face their love of us tells us that we are

[Fran Marie]

you re welcome
Tate; hope you
are doing well
dear friend;

[Tate Morgan]

Alls well everyone safe thank you

[Laura Lynn]

wow, I did not know that! It's sad to grow up and be older and how our emotions play games with us, sometimes I think I'm going crazy, it's hard to know how to talk to people constructively and what all, when an so forth, especially if we think it will be some sort of remedy for anything, probably not, my son gets to go to a T-ball lesson tomorrow, I don't want to be annoying to anyone, but sometimes we become annoyed by whatever it is we were not expecting that day or hour, even minute

[Tate Morgan]

Well I thank you But I cant tell if you liked it or not I cant really understand your comment .

[MomzillaNC]

"It's friends who forgave our weakness
whose spirits echo through our day"

Those friends are as much of who we become as any action or lesson. And, sadly, too often forgotten in the hustle and bustle of our grown up lives.

"Somewhere between the child and man
we forget sometimes the reason
Why children love to play these games
as varied as each new season"

[Tate Morgan]

Thank you very much it is such a truism that we had friends once who forgave us as they themselves were struggling to grow and fit in.

[MomzillaNC]

You're welcome.

[realmwriter]

I once had a love of baseball and I now know where I lost it. My favorite player of all time was Darryl Strawberry. He killed the love of the game for me and though he doesn't know it and will never know I have never been able to get it back. But I think that maybe your poem has restored something of a glimmer at least for the love of baseball that I once held in my youth. As I write this I am almost in tears and I thank you for that Tate. I collected cards and played baseball with exuberance, I dare say that I could have been one of the greats. I truly did love the game and until now, I didn't even realize how much. Thank you Tate, for sharing this piece. It is a great telling of the love of the game and the excitement only a child at bat knows.

[Tate Morgan]

Thank you I can tell you this get your child in the game you will love it again as you watch her run the bases feel the heart beat the friends smile.

[realmwriter]

I am sure that I will. My oldest is currently showing a liking for soccer though and my youngest, well it will be some time before she can play baseball.

[Pryde Foltz]

In life it's not the ones who condemn
nor win most times they play
It's friends who forgave our weakness
whose spirits echo through our day

For us Canadians … it's hockey, But friends are friends.

[Tate Morgan]

We look back on those days of childhood of our teens and think will we ever have friends that dear again probably not Thank you Pryde

[Becky C Strukamp]

So true Tate. You captured the meaning so beautifully!

[Me]

Very nicely written and a pleasure to read

[Tate Morgan]

thanks mike I love the games

[TPK Stories]

Well written...it's nice to have memories of childhood games like baseball...

[Tate Morgan]

thanks star memories are the fortunes we store

[Eddie Phillips]

Ha! This was great and made me think back. Thanks Tate

[Tate Morgan]

thanks ed Glad you liked it