The smell of pipe tobacco
Lingering in the air
I climbed a wooden step
Up a wooden stair
Round again and up again
An aperture appeared
A doorway into heaven
A vision and I the seer
A square of green
A paradise
A surface all for play
Surrounded by adoring stands
And crowds to shout ‘hurray’
This was Bolton Wanderers
This is Burnden Park
My dad has brought me here
After working in the dark
There’s a railway on that farther side
There’s a band upon the pitch
Marching up and down they are
Some steps beside a ditch
Out come all the players
Soon they start the game
We won 4-1 that afternoon
Leicester City tame
Never forgot that afternoon
Never forgot those stairs
Whenever I smell pipe tobacco
I’m transported from my cares
Back to Bolton Wanderers
When I was a boy
When my dad took me to see the game
That always gives me joy
Brian Fahy
2 October 2021
+ Bolton Wanderers 4 Leicester City 1
9th October 1954
Erris Poetry 