The Drag-on

(With sincere apologies to the marvellous Simon Armitage)


Forget
the long, smothering
afternoon. It is

this moment
when the ball splurts
out the back

of Sam's hand; downwards,
bat-wards, bouncing
twice,

seemingly beyond him
yet he reaches
and hits it

straight
into his foot,
and back into the stumps

like a hammer
to a thumb,
the first of the season.