<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div><span></span></div><div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span class=""><span class="">Old Timer's Day <b> <o:p class=""></o:p></b></span></span></p><div><span class=""> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">When the tall puffy<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">figure wearing number<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">nine starts<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">late for the fly ball,<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">laboring forward<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">like a lame truckhorse<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">startled by a gartersnake,<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">this old fellow<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">whose body we remember<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">as sleek and nervous<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">as a filly's,<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><div><span class=""> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">and barely catches it<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">in his glove's<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">tip, we rise<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">and applaud weeping:<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">On a green field<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">we observe the ruin<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">of even the bravest<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">body, as Odysseus<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">wept to glimpse<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">among shades the shadow<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">of Achilles.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p></div><div><span class=""><br></span></div><div><br></div>- <span class="">Donald Hall</span></div></body></html>