A Dream Sacrificed Poem by Francis Duggan

Have you ever struggled to choke back the tears
That yearned to flow for your far better years
When you were a young man and in your life's prime
Before you became a victim of the passage of time?

To old Bill who drinks at the pub what i ask does apply
He often talks of his life of the forever gone by
When he was an athletic and a healthy young man
And full of the energy of youthful elan

Two times mile district track champion six decades ago
Many Seasons before time did become his foe
One groomed by athletic coaches for an Olympic career
A dream sacrificed in his lust for the beer

By far in his youth the best local athlete
But at the National Championships and Olympics he never did compete
Before his twentieth birthday his last race he had run
Than training the pub atmosphere to him was more fun

A grandfather ten times and divorced by his wife
When drunk he sheds tears for his mistakes in life
In his youth the greatest athlete in the town
Though than that he may have known of far greater renown.