The Fire Inside

The Fire Inside

A fire in the belly fuelled all his success
Kindled by family and friends
Nothing too hard for this kid at his best
His means just a way to the ends

Footy came easy but cricket came hard
A passion evolved in his eyes
His home ground advantage, the grassy back yard
The birth place of tackles and tries

He was tested at school, with average success
Not overly taken to learning
Did what had to be done often under duress
But still the kid had a yearning

The fire a massive unquenchable blaze
Gave the kid a mind of his own
He left home a child unsure of his way
Said goodbye to the safety of home

Then the kid grew up or at least he got older
The Army would make him a man
Or so he believed in a place than was colder
Than sunny days down at the Strand

The kid showed some promise but not for the job
The city put stars in his eyes
The place where passage o’er the bridge cost a bob
The Opera House, footy and flies

He answered an add saying Saints players wanted
At Twenty–One how could he miss?
There with the likes of Jansen and Morris
The kid said “I can do this”

The fire in the belly now out of control
The kid had the world at his feet
But commitments to unit and work as a whole
Came like a kick in the teeth

Would he have made it in footy’s big time?
He and that fire in his gut
Possibilities he thought just sublime
Or was he just not good enough?

So off to park footy he couldn’t go wrong
The fire still burned in his gut
Then enter the wine, the women and song
Enter square one of the rut

Deadlines, relationships parties and such
Was like a fine mist to the blaze
His constant companion, the fire that he loved
Looked smaller and somehow afraid

At times he’d be angry and other times sad
At just what his life could have been
He knows he made choices, the ambitious lad
But if only some things were foreseen

Now the only things left are marriage and work
And he loves his wife without doubt
But the life that he leads requires the spark
Of a flame that is very near out

Now the kid’s an old man and his sight’s not the best
His back not as strong as it was
His memory fading, patchy at best
He feels unfulfilled and he sobs

His life nearly over yet so much undone
A tear wells up in his eye
The fire’s gone out and the embers are gone
He feels himself starting to cry

Looking back on his life of good times and bad
And some that he’d rather forget
He sees in his hand a ticket marked ‘paid’
To the rocking chair of regret