It Isn'T How You Start Poem by gershon hepner

It isn’t how you start, but how you finish
that matters, introductions
do not compare with, and cannot diminish,
the end of your productions.

Good starts don’t guarantee a good conclusion,
and often all’s not well
that started well––it may end in confusion
from heaven into hell.

Don’t focus on the way that you’ve begun
your season, it’s the end
that counts, and something new beneath the sun
helps bad beginnings mend.

Inspired by Rafael Furcal’s strong finish of the season as the Dodgers’ shortstop, having begun it with a very disappointing start, reported by Dylan Hernandez in the LA Times, September 25,2009 (“Furcal keeps getting stronger at the finish”) and anticipating Qohelet, which we will read towards the end of the season, on the Sabbath of Hol Ha’Moed Sukkot:

On the night the Dodgers moved to within a victory of securing a spot in the postseason by claiming a 7-6 victory over the Washington Nationals, their $25-million left fielder turned himself into the highest-paid press officer in baseball history.
Still wearing his uniform pants, a sweaty Manny Ramirez put his arm around the first reporter he saw and said, 'You're going to talk to Raffy, right? Go talk to Raffy.' But Rafael Furcal, who was four for five and hit a solo home run to break a 6-6 stalemate in the eighth inning, wasn't at his locker. 'He's in the shower, ' Ramirez said. 'He'll be back.' Matt Kemp drove in his 100th run of the season on a three-run home run in the first inning and Andre Ethier saved the game in the bottom of the eighth by throwing out Willie Harris at the plate, but the players in the clubhouse made it clear that the game belonged to Furcal, who for most of the season has looked like a player past his prime.
Reporters weren't the only ones to greet the affable shortstop when he returned to his dressing stall. Brad Ausmus dropped by to bump fists with him. Guillermo Mota walked by and said out loud in English, 'It's not how you start... ' Furcal completed the phrase in Spanish: 'It's how you finish.' Furcal is finishing strong. He scored two runs and drove in four more Thursday to reduce the Dodgers' magic number to secure a wild-card berth to one, meaning that if the Dodgers win today or if the Atlanta Braves lose, they'll be in the playoffs for the third time in four years.


9/25/09