Iconic and Ironic

 

 

Few things really excite me

And there is a reason for this,

Life is so fleeting and things so transient,

Everything is but a light kiss.

 

I do get a light thrill, though,

Out of English words

And in some cases, I must admit,

This borders on the absurd.

 

I don’t go looking for them

But they just jump out at me

As though they are making sure

Of something I should see.

 

Examine with me, if you will,

The following two:

Ironic and Iconic and this is of course,

If you’ve nothing better to do.

 

There’s a bit of ironic in iconic

Especially when related to heroes,

One day they can be icons

And the next, they can be foes.

 

 

One slip and you are out

No matter how good you had been,

It is the irony of life, you see,

In a flash, it’s the next scene.

 

It is like friend and fiend-

Just the ‘r’ has been removed,

A minor difference some might say

But most would not approve.

 

Similarly iconic and ironic:

The ‘c’ replaced by ‘r’

But without hesitation you’ll agree,

The former is better by far.

 

The iconic are accorded

Tremendous esteem and praise

But it is incredibly ironic, at least to me,

This is often a phase.

 

I recall an incident

Around the late sixties,

Garry Sobers threw away a match

And my father was so angry.

 

 

A photo of the icon Sobers

From the partition had hung

But at the outcome of that match

It was treated like bird dung.

 

Garry Sobers had declared

And England won the test series,

All the other matches were drawn

And therein was the irony.

 

From friend to fiend,

From iconic to ironic,

Garry Sobers sporting declaration

Made my father sick.

 

 

In my father’s estimation

Garry Sobers had fallen so low

That the icon’s photograph

Flew out the window.

 

Isn’t it ironic, I must add,

The interplay between these two!

Today the iconic; tomorrow the ironic!

Such a hasty change of view!

 

Stewart Russell © January 20, 2024

 

Fall from Grace

 

 

West Indies among the lowest

Even trailing Afghanistan

That won two of their engagements

And look more like champions.

 

They were an experienced side

With stars passed their battery life

That were brutally exposed

When records did not suffice.

 

Christopher Henry Gayle

The brightest star of them all

Though with his illustrious record

Could not avert this fall.

 

His greatest opponent, I believe,

Was an opponent known as “age”

And clearly Gayle was not its equal,

Certainly not on this stage.

 

Neither Bravo nor Rampaul,

Allrounders Pollard nor Russell

Could stem the effects of advancing time

In this the greatest of tussles.

 

 

The selectors thought it best

To go with experience and age

But except for a single nerve-wracking win

The West Indies were upstaged.

 

Their performance was pathetic

Nothing to shout about

And from the very first match played

They were on their way out.

 

Bowled out for a paltry 55

And though not their lowest ever,

Demonstrated by the way they played

They were not too clever.

 

A narrow win over Bangladesh

Just by a 3 runs margin,

The hopes of the current T20 champions

Definitely looked dim.

 

With Group 1 now completed

West Indies are one from the bottom,

Certainly not what was expected

From the World T20 Champions.

 

 

No doubt this is Gayle’s last

I do hope he hangs up his shoes,

He surely can’t do like he did before

Not at the age of forty-two.

 

With an overall total of 45

And an unimpressive average of 9

Gayle force winds refused to blow

They were only in our mind. 

 

His record is still impressive

As the greatest T20 batsman ever

But to continue at his present age

To me is really not clever.

 

This is indeed a fall from grace

Not because the West Indies lost

But hardly was there any pep in their step

Or in that of the Universe Boss.

 

Stewart Russell © November 6, 2021