My next poem:

I remember watching you
Bowl bouncers ferociously fast,
Subtle swing, that had
The best batsmen outclassed.

I remember them falling
Like a pack of dominoes,
Some retiring with concussions,
Or nursing a broken nose.

I remember stumps shattering,
i remember edges flying,
Looks of resignation emerging
Among players of spirit dying.

I remember crafty cutters
Deceiving the sharpest minds,
Impeccable pace bowling,
The best I’d ever find.

But above all, I remember
A determined, firm fellow
Ready to tirelessly toil
With ball and willow.

A dwarf beside giants,
Who’d scaled humongous hills*,
I recall their retreat
As succumbed to your skill.

It’s been twenty years since,
You lie buried, in a grave,
Tears well up,as I recall
The greatest I’ve seen play.

-The Forgers of Fantasy

*Who’d achieved a lot.

This has been penned for the DVerse challenge hosted by Mish, where poets were asked to write poems on loved ones they had lost and the qualities within them that were admired. I’ve never lost a loved one, so I really don’t know how it feels, so I improvised a bit, and wrote about a Barbadian cricket fan remembering Malcolm Marshall, whom he deeply admired. I know it deviates from the topic, but well…

You can access the prompt at https://dversepoets.com/2022/11/01/poetics-dia-de-los-muertos/

For more such poems, refer The Forgers of Fantasy