To an athlete not dying young

 Many of us are familiar with A. E. Houseman's infamous poem "To an Athlete Dying Young." It was eulogized in the movie Out of Africa, when the character Karen Blixen movingly reads it over the open grave of her lover Denys Finch Hatton. I read it as a youth and--without knowing the term exactly--found it romantic in a way that doesn't fit the common concept of that word, but more like the emotive aspect: tragic, ironic, and about destiny. Houseman was infatuated with the idea of life cut short, of youth in all its glory, fossilized, forever caught in the folds of time.

To an Athlete Dying Young

By A. E. Housman

The time you won your town the race

We chaired you through the market-place;

Man and boy stood cheering by,

And home we brought you shoulder-high.

Today, the road all runners come,

Shoulder-high we bring you home,

And set you at your threshold down,

Townsman of a stiller town.

Smart lad, to slip betimes away

From fields where glory does not stay,

And early though the laurel grows

It withers quicker than the rose.

(poem especially popular after the start of World War I)

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Of course, life isn't romantic or epic or full of laurel wreaths, but often the opposite: We don't always win.

Earlier this fall one of my bosses at Playmakers where I work was recognized by his high school and inducted into The Grand Ledge High School Athletic Hall of Fame. At Grand Ledge HS he racked up awards in both cross country and track and also later at Michigan State University, where he earned 8 varsity letters in track & CC., and in cross country was a 3x NCAA qualifier--and so much more. Go here: Comet Hall of Fame

Andy is also a superior leader at work, always jumping into various projects such as fixing the elevator, smoothing out IT problems, and getting the waterfall, the store's centerpiece, to fall whenever it is having a hard day. He coaches track and oversees special events. He is a great humanitarian, active in many community endeavors and food drives and charity projects. You name it. He is an athlete who didn't die young but has continued to run the race called life, not a literary romanticized life but literally a humble and profound one dedicated to his fellow human being.

Here is my poetic offering:

To an athlete not dying young

A high school/collegiate athlete, timeless, out of time, time flattens, time is the great equalizer, some have gotten far, ahead of the game, winners, losers, all the same, a little older, grayer, sparser, weak in the knees, holding fast, going the distance, crossing the finish line, our personal best.