Because of Valentines

To an unknown soccer player

    By Augustus Snodgrass

I don’t know your name,

only a red and white jersey

with no name on the back.

But I know 

you have something.

It’s the way your faux hawk looks 

when you leap

 in front of huge defender 

and barely head it 

into the top right hand corner

or your purple cleats

that out run

every other player 

on the turf.

I watch 

as you step off to get water,

high-fiving your best friend

(who has already introduced himself by the way).

And I sit 

knee propped 

and iced,

wishing I was just a bit braver.