Almost too young
to remember...anything

I remember
an old old man

bursting into
our game

like a bronze figure
on a clock

striking the hour
& then creaking back

“I wanna play...I wanna
play! ”
he’d say

dribbling the ball up field
going hysterical when he scored.

I looked upon
this ancient intrusion

with all the disgust
of my young youth

my youth blazing
like a fire

in the hot sun
of childhood.

I laugh now
at this ancient one

once seen through all
too innocent eyes

realising he was only
as old as I am now!

Dónall Dempsey

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/an-apology-to-an-ancient-one/