Poems From Inside Me

Middle Age Poem

Middle Age Poem

As the years go by I look back and wonder

At so many loves and friendships torn asunder

Some great memories of love and succeeding

Some memories of crying or bleeding

It's funny now too to see with sober eyes

How I used drink and drug to paint a disguise

Over what I was feeling, what was inside

Each time I did it another part of me died

There were times that I had the world by the tail

Times just simple tasks I tried and would fail

If I had half the knowledge of what those things could have meant

If only a little more time had been spent

But I squandered my school days with drink and fast cars

Gave up my dreams of the sky and the stars

Many years later reuniting with friends of past days

I wished that we hadn't gone separate ways

So many good times I had known back in that time

I gave up for wrong reasons now it seems like a crime

So many of my cadet friends went on to be something

Soldiers and doctors things that have meaning

But in the end truly my regrets are few

I do have my health; and I do have you

Not all can say they have one to love and to hold

And know they will love them until they grow old

I can't say I did all the great things in life

I can't even say I made you my wife

What I can say is this: I gave life my all

And that I get up every time that I fall

Leif Gregersen

Where I Learned To Play

Not so far away

A distant time though

A distant day

Locked in struggle team to team

This wasn't soccer; it was a war it seemed

Brave and hardened we kicked and tackled

Like young soldiers trained for battle

Two games a week, two practice nights

We gave up on all to prepare to fight

It was tough to play so many matches

Sometimes we finished bruised with scratches

One thing for sure we all became close friends

Upon each other victory or defeat depends

Such a great time, such an experience

Becoming lean and strong, I played defence

But as the season began to show our mettle

I became a half and in that I settled

I ran my legs off and it took all of my determination

To help guide my brothers to our trophied destination

When I see my old comrades now it warms my heart

Soccer taught all of us to make hard work an art

I would have liked to do it for a few more years

But like any battle the fond memory disappears

The next year I signed up with Air Cadets

And gave up all else, I hedged my bets

I joined up and wanted just one thing

To be a sergeant, and have the respect that brings

I often think back to my final game

We hadn't lost all season but for one team

The last match I ever played with them my friend

Was tied two-two at the very end

So it became sudden death overtime

And the coach said that goal could be mine

He put me up as centre striker in that boiling stew

And I was really thinking I was screwed

I lost my little confidence

And I knew what messing up meant

So with my head full of stupid doubt

I backed away, I chickened out

My place was taken by another

And he scored the goal that little bugger

And we got our trophy, we were the best

But my soccer dreams will never rest

I wonder if I had stayed in

And scored that goal; what could have been

So my advice to you is don't regret

Give all you've got and never have to pay a loser's debt

Leif Gregersen

May 15/2013