With the season’s Opening Day
Come the sound of bats of balls
With Opening Day
Come the smell of leather
Of newly hewn grass
The sun on the back
Of dusty winds
The imagination moves
Of possibilities
Of your team doing best
Of being on top
Of leading the way
With Opening Day
Babe in front of his locker
“Hi kid,”
To Babe, everyone is kid
With Opening Day
Come my self-declared holiday
No longer do I wait for Opening Day, National Holiday
Pronounced
It is It is mine It will always be
Isn't it a day when kids get sick?
Can't go to school?
When parents realize how serious this ailment is?
Isn't it a day when the mind can't concentrate?
Loses its power to steady?
A day the mind wanders hither and yon?
Floating
Roaming
Moving
Shifting
The watch consulted
The mind at the park
Number 3 steps out of the dugout
Seventy thousand rising cheers undulate
Players pick up feel
Scratchy new uniforms
With Opening Day
The stomach jumps
Patters
Meeting with the watch
Train leaves one hour
What to do with such immense expanse of time?
A visit to the bathroom
Relief
Players pulling up their trousers now
Ready to step into black shining shoes
A gleaming pearl in the starter’s shoe
What are the umpires doing now?
This moment?
Probably not at the park
Sure they are
Where else to be?
Not having a leisurely meal
Not now
Into the pockets
Yep the tickets
Sit down Stand up
Down at the watch
To the window
Up at the sky
Bright white sphere in ethereal blue
Sparkling on emerald green
An umbrella of cobalt blue
The wind in the trees is light
An outfielder glides under a ball
Will there be any spectacular plays today?
The shoulders rise
The blood pumps Thump Thump
The watch
Still to wait
They've got to be throwing the ball around now
On Opening Day, did Babe get butterflies?
Such ritual
Opening Day
A National Holiday
We must make it so
“Welcome to Opening Day, kid.”
Pete & Mike Murray, Fort Meade, Maryland
1997 J.S. Murray
First published in the World Wide Church of Baseball
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