THOUGHTS AT THE HIGH SCHOOL GAME

I used to be a shortstop.
Not a great one, mind you,
but not that bad
if I say so myself.
Back then, my specialties
were moving to my left
and shagging the short flies.
Our outfielders knew it
and played deep.

Such powers do diminish.
These days I watch the games
from the third row behind
the home team dugout.
The other day one of the kids
asked if I played ball
when I was young.
I was tempted, I do admit,
to regale him with the saga
of what we did in ‘58,
but thought better of it,
and went for the easy laugh.
"Yeah," I said, "and the older
I get, the better I was."
He smiled.
(I was a pretty good
base stealer too,
if I do say so myself.)