Ode to the master-spinner and / or the nervous eleventh

Friday, July 23, 2010


The decision was yours

To gently retire

From your celebrated foothold

In the "gentlemen's sport";


 

Your eight-hundredth wonder

Made your mark

to glow in gold

In the ancient scrolls of imperial sport.


 

We shan't forget

The way you bore

The vicious stare of Darrell Hair

So quietly and gently, once upon a time.


 

Your innocent and affable smile

remained the same

in times of joy and merriment

as well as in times of bewilderment


 

These lines shan't be an elegy

For retired Murali

Who still smiles

in our test-cricket dream.


 

Being the constant eleventh

In the batting lineup

Your magic wrist made for spinning

Worked nervous wonders


 

You invented,

Your own fours and sixes

To save our souls

In nearly lost battles.


 

Despite the bars of ethnicity

Every Sri Lankan cricket fan

Loved you, adored you

and Ignored your nationality.


 

And that's how in a way

You made the bridge of piece

Among the quarreling nations

At least in cricket.


 

So let me crown thee

The sporty emblem

of peace and harmony

in the purl of east, the rising miracle of Asia.


 


 


 

2 comments:

dakshika said...

Keep it bro... :)

Anonymous said...

A true hero bro!.Not like the cardboard ones..humble and calm..Great work janith