Cup Final

sacrifice
artifice
worship
warship
avarice
left
the vineyard
shown the way
by a pistol
on lanyard
by a sword
on the day
eyes raised to heaven
no yeast for the leaven
broiled not baked
by the setting sun.
A cup not renounced
obedience paid
A final life forfeited
for a festival played.

Dr T.P. Wilkinson writes, teaches History and English, directs theatre and coaches cricket between the cradles of Heine and Saramago. He is also the author of Church Clothes, Land, Mission and the End of Apartheid in South Africa. Read other articles by T.P..