Why Won'T You Throw Me the Ball-- An Ode To the Boys In My Classroom

Every day at recess I play catch with the boys No matter what they can’t throw where they’re told Just one good pass To bend over that many times, I’m getting too old I throw them a pass And it slaps off their hands When they do finally catch one They celebrate like a Packer leaping into the stands Tayden Picks it up He throws with all his might The ball leaves his hand And sails 20 feet to my right I stroll over And pick up the errant pass Why can’t they throw me the ball Maybe we should go over this in class McNutt drops the next pass The sun was in my eyes is what he’ll say I don’t know how that’s possible On such a cloudy day With a wind up McNutt gets ready to throw This won’t be pretty it won’t be neat With a scream and all his strength he chucks the pass It bounces 10 yards in front of me and rolls to my feet. My aching back It can’t take much more I’m only 39 Why am I this sore Now it’s Davon who is in my sites If he would only catch it I could lose these ball drop blues He looks good as he runs for the pass But now he’s on the ground, tripped over his own shoes With a smile and a chuckle He picks up the ball I think he knows it’s a football and not a grenade It sails way over my head and bounces off the wall I throw the ball to Brian He reaches for it wearing his single glove I can’t believe it, he caught it Thank the heavens above This is it, I think he will throw me a direct hit Oh, man tricked again, he stopped to tell a story and talk How disappointing I suppose I could just take a walk Why do I do it Why do I play Tomorrow I jump rope I’ll keep trying they may throw it to me someday