October 15, 2019

Lou Gehrig Day

He was scared and did not
want to speak to 62,000 people.

Maybe he felt facing death
was enough to endure but

they kept calling his name
till he stepped up to the mic

and gave 278 words of thank you
and goodbye. His body trembled

as he spoke with the voice
of a dying man still strong enough

to unlock his heart before thousands
and let them all come in.

Edwin Romond, Home Team: Poems about Baseball (Grayson Books, 2018)


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