The Almanack

The Almanack

My homage to cricket.

I see, upon my dusty library shelf
in ordered rank, six heavy thick-set tomes
mustard-brown guardians of our summer game
that bring those far pavilions to my home.

I take one, and I let it open up -
(it's never to be read from front to back)
sampled, like a statistical buffet,
the tale of cherry ball on linseed bat.

I picture, as a half-remembered dream,
a field of green in distant empire lands
another run is added to the score
etched in time by the scorer's careful hand.

Though stumps are drawn, the players now are gone,
the book is closed but Wisden carries on.

Tim Fellows 2019