by Clyde Always
“Bills season ends in AFC championship loss to Chiefs”
—Sports Illustrated
For my sister
Those rosy, faithful fools out in the snow,
whose football team’s forever blizzard-tossed:
more die-hard fans the game will never know.
Their zeal they showed, in 10-degrees-below,
by smashing plastic tables, stiff with frost—
those rosy, faithful fools out in the snow.
They swore, “Once Allen’s trounced Mahomes—our foe—
we’ll feast on wings and skate Lake Erie, sauced!”
More die-hard fans the game will never know.
This victory, they knew, would soothe the blow
dealt decades past: those four Big Games, all lost—
those rosy, faithful fools out in the snow.
Alas, their whoops gave way to wails of woe
when one last screaming spiral proved star-crossed.
More die-hard fans the game will never know.
Once more, they’ll yearn all year for Autumn’s glow
then don their well-worn sweaters, BILLS-embossed.
Those rosy, faithful fools out in the snow:
more die-hard fans the game will never know!