Friends, Romans, Countrymen, gathered in awe
to watch The Master and his name exhort,
and at the crease blazoned a century score
by the Lion slayer in fierce onslaught.
Cut, hook, pull, and drive - each ball thunderstruck
as I took my guard at the city end,
cover and square leg would scurry and duck
when Excalibur blade threatened…Amen!
“Bravo centurion!” they’d shout, “more! more!”
dapper in his zinc and red bandana -
into Wisden and new Leopard folklore
“run-out” on that great urban savannah.
I should have stayed my crease - instead I ran -
but cometh the legend, cometh the man!
Written: December 1996
Note: A centurion is a batsman who scores
a hundred runs in an innings. Alas I
was run-out for 111 that fateful day.
*The Leopards were my cricket team.
*The Lions were one of our fiercest rivals.
*Cover & square leg are fielding positions.
*Cut, hook, pull, drive, are cricket shots.
*Taking guard is marking your crease in
line with your stumps to protect them.
*Excalibur is a brand of cricket bat.
*Wisden is a prestigious cricket almanac.
Out of a neon jungle the big cats prowl
the wind in the willows unrecovered,
for when the cats and wind begin to howl
I am stoned and the boys truly mothered!
So I rip in and bowl an inswinger
and rap ‘em on the pads…”howzat?” I shout,
pivoting to see a pointing finger,
but the bastard umpire says “Not Out!”.
Behold the shot, the call of “no, yes, no”…
a sledge and slog on the concrete wickets
and puffs of stupefying herb billow
the post-match bar in the oak tree pickets.
For a play and a prey the big cats reign
when the Leopards are loose in The Domain.
Written: November 1992
Pic above is of Auckland Domain.
*The Leopards are a cricket team.
*Cricket bats are made from willow trees.
*Mothered is slang for extremely drunk.
*Inswinger is a type of bowling delivery.
*If a bowler appeals to an umpire for a
dismissal and he agrees the batsman is
out he points and raises his finger.
*Sledge is a cutting insulting remark.
"Wise Monkey"
I am tired
I am so so tired
Just sit for a while
See no evil
Hear no evil
Speak no evil
Shut my eyes
Listen to emptiness
Don't speak
Shhhhhhhhhhh
I am tired
I am so so tired
Just sit for a while
Watch my world
go bye
(LadyLabyrinth / 2020)
"Stone in Focus" / Aphex Twin
https://youtu.be/q86g1aop6a8
"Just Fall Asleep" / Aphex Twin
https://youtu.be/2gNtuY4VAOA
bye.
Definitition.
Bye1
- the transfer of a competitor directly to the next round of a competition in the absence of an assigned opponent.
- a run scored from a ball that passes the batsman without being hit (recorded as an extra, not credited to the individual batsman).
- one or more holes remaining unplayed after a match has been decided.
Bye 2
mid 16th century (denoting a side issue or incidental matter): from by.
Bye 3
Exclamation:
short for goodbye.
Bye 4
prefix
bye- 1. subordinate; incidental; secondary.
"by-election"
Ball,Bat and wicket
Three making thrill cricket
Ballers,Batsmen and Umpires
To differ to defend in all affairs
Batsman to sweat more to shine
Shining ball for the baller to shine
Saliva and sweat in the game twins
To shine the ball time to time to win
Saliva in tongue to sense every taste
Stinks sweat no good a waste of waste
The pair in health from time memory
Covid now to takes saliva to the mortuary
Saliva to bid a farewell from the pitch
Sweat to cover the space like putting patch!
Limerick : Once a Privy Counsellor at Lord’s
Once a Privy Counsellor at Lord’s*
Watched a bowler* throw balls like gourds
Convened judicial com.*
Summoned bowler to come
And sentenced him to eat bitter gourds.
Lord’s : The Mecca of cricket grounds in London
where the Marylebone Cricket Club has
its seat.
bowler : The player who lances the ball at the
batsman ; yet during the act the elbow
must not be bent – at the risk of being
called by the Umpire a « no ball « , that is,
even if the ball hits the wickets and the
bails are dislodged, the batsman is not
given « out.».
*Judicial Com(mittee) of the Privy Council, the highest
Court of Appeal in England (and the former
British territories) until the Supreme
Court was set up in 2010 to hear some appeals.
The Privy Counsellor/Councillor
is a Member of the House of Lords and a judge.
© T. Wignesan – Paris, 2013
It was mid-summer,
evening league cricket.
Fifty years fade from view
they’ve labelled it
Twenty-Twenty and think
of it as something new.
We batted first,and scored
a few;I placed my bat
in the crease.A bowler
more than a batsman,
I took guard.
Giving it a clout, to leg,
a richoctet split my
top lip and smashed
two front teeth so I
quickly retired,not out
Twenty-four hours passes
my lip stitched, two crooked
teeth removed from sore
gums, learning as well,
we lost by five runs.
With a few weeks a plate
fitted with two new teeth.
Each night now I smile;
sometimes one split second
will improve a profile