she says life's short
alternately
life's too short
she may be right
it sure was short for an ex teammate of mine
now playing rugby in heaven
24 years olde
i have been playing rugby for as long as he was alive
dies from complications from a chemical accident at his work
he didnt have time too fuck his life up
to become overwhelmed by the mundane details of our "civilization"
to have to get up and got to work every fucking day for decades
to participate in the circle of debt
hakuna you owe me
to become a drag
to become boring
rugby games are short
eighty minutes long
stoppages when the ball is out of bounds
or when a penalty is committed
it seems like a long time when you are out there
when your lungs are complaining
when your legs feel spent
but just a few yards away is more mayhem
so you get up off the ground again
disentangling limbs if neccessary
maybe shoving an enemy back to the ground just for fun
you get your legs moving again by cussing at yourself
goading them to move
come on legs move it, get there
and before you know it the game is over and the discussions of you being out of shape begin
no one can be in good enough shape for this game
the better you are prepared, the rgeater the licking your body will take
the faster you run the more times you run into people at high speeds
a rugby season is built upon your physique
which you construct to be faster this year with more stairs and plyometrics
more powerful this year with heavier weights and core training
more durable this year with hundreds of miles of running situps and dips

and what do you do with this temple you have erected?
a monumet to masclinity
the temple of mars

who let all these visigoths into my sacred temple complex?
time to clean some house

such an incredible waste of time and energy
rugby
but what else can you do with the rage?
and not go to jail
a man needs an outlet for mayhem
and you need to find about 25 sick fucks like yourself to ply your trade on weekends
with two practices a week
which makes your creaky bones a hell of a lot of fun to be around
beat up and cranky and sore
you are the perfect man
or so you would think

you realize how short life is when it ends
do you wish you did more on the rugby field when the final whistle blows?
or will you crawl off exhausted
completely spent
temple in ruins
visigoths in piles around you
and start rebuilding the temple tomorrow