Page 112 - Wish Stream Year of 2019

But for me it brought to mind his standing as an avid reader,
Who slept each night with the Iliad beneath his pillow in prime position,
The oldest surviving poem in Western literary tradition.
So what’s on display when the greatest leader of his day,
Drew inspiration from poetic words to which he often referred? I’ll say
It’s that through their works which stay, Poets can lead long after they have passed
away.
Whereas the crux of a sportsman’s leadership is their physical example
But study the length of sports careers by taking any random sample
You’ll see that injuries and ageing will force them to retire
And their leadership which we admired and to which we aspired
Has sadly now expired.
A lucky few may go on to accept a coaching role,
Be a leader and leave their mark upon their sport as a whole,
Which brings to mind the iconic half-time inspi- rational locker room speech,
The coach lifts the losing team and brings the win back into reach with words like,
“Once more into the breach!”
And as if by magic the team goes back out and
gets a grip,
All thanks to an example of class A sporting
leadership.
Except I would argue that here, even if they do not know it,
The sporting coach is behaving exactly like a poet.
They observe the world around them and inspect, reflect, dissect,
In this case the reason why their team is getting wrecked,
And then they select the best words to produce a chosen effect,
The process used by any poet whilst writing, Or so we would expect.
Unlike the sportsman, the poet’s skills and qualities,
Mature with age, Improve at every stage,
Whenever they set their pens upon the page. And informed by life experience they tell us
something more,
Something that we didn’t think we understood
before,
Something human, something personal, about
the existence we are facing, The intangible goals and purpose We are endlessly chasing.
When we strip back our deeds to find their meaning,
Motives, drive and inner leaning,
What could give us more despair,
Than to learn that in the end, there’s simply
nothing there?
It’s a poet’s words that give us inspiration in our darkest hour,
The sparks that light, ignite the moral aspect of our fighting power.
‘Dulce et decorum est’ or ‘Be the best’,
From marketing slogans seen in a recruitment
office scrawl,
To the words of Horace standing tall emblazoned
on the chapel wall,
We need a poet’s leadership to dignify, Whatever actions we might try,
And causes for which we could die,
And when it’s done to glorify,
The lives of friends who’ve passed us by.
We need a poet’s leadership.
The leadership that gives the ‘why?’.
110 SANDHURST