Going To The Match

L S LOWRY

‘E’s caught it reet th’ knows

Th’atmosphere o’ them days

Flat caps and overcoats

Chimneys in a haze

Bolton town in misty grey

Burnden sitting proud

They are going to the match th’ knows

Cheers and shouts out loud

 

He painted this in ‘53

I went in’54

A coach from Tyldesley

A flask of tea

My dad and many more

Went through my first turnstile

Up those wooden stairs

Pipe tobacco in the air

A vision opened there

 

Down below magnificent

A theatre of green

A brass band playing up and down

A sight I’d never seen

Stands all round in worship

Th’embankment th’open end

Railway just behind it

Bolton Bury bend

 

Picture’s up for sale now

And Burnden Park’s all gone

But the image and the memory

They live on and on

Matchstick men in matchstick clogs

Going to the game

And I a child of seven years old

Amen amen amen

 

Brian Fahy

14 September 2022