With sixty-two minutes played 

at a rancid, rainy Selhurst Park, 

two photographs appear  

on the jumbo screen, floating  

over the on-pitch preparations 

to take a disputed penalty.  

 

Matthew Higgins and Mick Lloyd 

sixty-two years of age 

eternal supporters, fathers, 

stalwarts, drivers and friends, 

give us a mirrored reminder  

of well lived lives played out 

with more than nil-nil intent. 

 

A minute of gentle clapping 

rises in kind acknowledgment  

of their coincidental death, 

while on the pitch,  

the bickering football match 

continues oblivious and intense.  

 

The whistle blows, and the ball  

stumbles towards a Palace post. 

The penalty kiss and miss 

takes the crowd by surprise 

enough to break the reverential bliss. 

 

Claps turn to jeers and boos.  

A lifetime chance squandered, 

life come breaking in, as usual, 

leaves us with the ‘if onlys’ to ponder. 

 

“I meant to write about death, only life came breaking in as usual.” - Virginia Woolf. 

A recent and real moment from a game between Crystal Palace and Brentford.