Giving Thanks

I'm thankful for the days when, in the ball yard down the street,
Tucked in the corner of the dugout, I sat at the feet
Of Johnny Pesky, telling stories, some I can't tell you,
Of what Ted Williams used to say that turned the air bright blue.

If you had met Bill Heinz, who earned the praise of Hemingway
And Damon Runyon, too, how could you feel another way
But thankful? And I'm grateful, also, for the countless lot
Who've smiled and laughed and sat and talked as I have sought a plot
Around which to arrange the things they've told me as we spoke
Of climbing up a hill we called a mountain. What a joke...
The highest point in all Rhode Island...on its top I've sat.
I'm thankful every day that I've a job where doing that
Is work. And thankful, also, for the volleyballers who,
Before a game took time to talk to me. I found it's true
That on a team of girls there was one volley-balling boy,
A circumstance the bearded lad accepted with such joy
That no amount of heckling ever spoiled his choice to play;
I'm thankful to have met him as I've made my happy way
Through all the sports you know because they're in the news each day,
And also all the sports that are not really sports at all,
Like me on a trapeze. Oh, there's the drama. Will I fall?
But that was more a clumsy lark and less an honest sport,

And then there was the time I got to come back and report
About a play that had within its plot a soccer game...
Another staff than mine might have pronounced it pretty lame
That I would find in drama sport, a story we should tell...
I'm thankful for the attitude, apparent where I dwell...
The people working here assume the point is having fun,
Without that healthy attitude would this show have begun?

In short, I've much about which to feel grateful at this time
That we have set aside for giving thanks, and if this rime
Has helped remind some number of the joy that we can see
Apparent in our games and work, then let the message be
A wish on this Thanksgiving, as we celebrate the day,
That in this world so often dark, we won't forget to play.