Baseball Poem: Opening Day 2000

By Bill Burns

And again it is time…
and you know it.
Without looking at the calendar
you know it’s the time
because you can smell it in the air
and feel it on your neck and back.
You hear the rising voices of the young
as they begin again
to toss the ball around.
So…
you get ready one more time
for that first trip to the park
to see the boys play the game
again.

It’s baseball.

BASEBALL…

Not more than life,
but pretty damn close.
Something you can love
eat
breathe
taste
& hold onto…
a language all its own
that you can share with friends,
your wife,
your children,
strangers even.

And so you must go
once again
to feel it and hold onto it,
to savor and be hurt by it…
to jump for joy and cry in deep despair…
to make it a part of you
before it’s gone…
or you are.

(originally published in Baseball Ink Vol. 2, No. 2 – September 2001)