by Frank Schnittger
Sun Jun 13th, 2010 at 01:46:04 PM EST
The gallant members of the Naas 7th. Mens Leinster League Tennis team succeeded in never winning a match, but were nevertheless successful in setting a rare standard of improvisation and camaraderie. The improvisation stemmed from hardly ever having met beforehand, having little prior league team experience, and being informed of our selection on the night of the first match! Some were regrettably unavailable, but others stepped into the breach. We struggled valiantly, but despite inspirational team talks, meticulous tactical preparation, and a rare application to the matters at hand, the opposition, mysteriously, always seemed to gain the upper hand.
I write it out in a verse -
McGettrick and Bonner
And McCudden and Doyle
with Killeen, Dunne and Schnittger
Now and in time to be,
Wherever white is worn,
Are changed, changed utterly:
Some terrible tennis was born.
(With apologies to William Butler Yeats: Easter, 1916)*
At least the grub was good, and the opposition friendly. Unfortunately the pennants on the wall will not be augmented by our exploits.
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*Last Verse from Easter, 1916 by William Butler Yeats
Too long a sacrifice
Can make a stone of the heart.
O when may it suffice?
That is Heaven's part, our part
To murmur name upon name,
As a mother names her child
When sleep at last has come
On limbs that had run wild.
What is it but nightfall?
No, no, not night but death;
Was it needless death after all?
For England may keep faith
For all that is done and said.
We know their dream; enough
To know they dreamed and are dead;
And what if excess of love
Bewildered them till they died?
I write it out in a verse -
MacDonagh and MacBride
And Connolly and Pearse
Now and in time to be,
Wherever green is worn,
Are changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.
