Grand Slam Poems

These two poems were requested by the BBC as part of the ongoing broadcasting of the Six Nations Tournament, 2005.

(For those who don't know , the Six Nations is an international Rugby Union competition between Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France, Italy and England. Winning every game is called winning The Grand Slam, which Wales won in 2005, having not won it since 1978. There was much rejoiceing.)

Spinning Tonight was commisioned by BBC Radio Five Live actually during the Wales v. France game, as it was so obvious from the score that Wales was going to win it!
And Strong Men Wept was commisioned by BBC Radio Wales "Good Evening Wales" news programme the day after Wales wone the Grand Slam.

To paraphrase Eli Jenkins,
"Praise the Lord, we are a Rugby nation!"

Spinning Tonight.

There's a dynamo hum in the Paris air,
As the gold-leaf flakes off Les Invalides,
And settles like snow on the shoulders broad
Of players from Wales that know, indeed,
That Napoleon is spinning tonight, oh yes,
Napoleon is spinning tonight!

And fifteen Welshmen, bandaged and bruised,
All battered and bloodied from each ball they caught,
Can bathe away the remnants of the soil of France,
Each soothed by the balm of the noble thought
That Napoleon is spinning tonight, oh yes,
Napoleon is spinning tonight!

And Strong Men Wept.
An Allegory.

The Dragon once was slain
By haughty, foreign saints
And lost besides the jewel of hope
That in its heart was kept,
And women screamed,
And children yelled,
And strong men wept.

But the Dragon rose again,
And trounced those foreign saints,
And found again more jewels of hope
As on its foes it leapt,
And women screamed,
And children yelled,
And strong men wept!

Now, the Dragon's foes are slain,
And it seeks out fresher saints,
And stands there (on a heap of hope)
Poised on the world to leap,
And women will scream,
And children will yell,
And strong men will,
In all probability,
Weep!