One day I had some time to kill, so I sat down at the computer and this came together in about an hour. It’s made the rounds at a fair number of places… a volleyball league, LeTourneau University in Texas, one or two high schools – and not least of all, Living Water…
My Volleyballer (Sung to “Music Box Dancer” by Frank Mills)
My volleyballer is a guy with scars on his face,
He has crossed eyes, a broken nose, and teeth out of place,
He’s lost skin from an elbow and the cap of his knee,
He’s lacerated, but that’s why he’s special to me.
My volleyballer always shows that he’s unafraid,
He plays the game with power off on his hearing aid,
And he will spike and dive and crash to score his team’s points
Although he has prosthetic skullbones, hands, feet, and joints.
And every night he’s more synthetic than you did see,
He takes theophylline and demerol by IV,
He has a heart that absolutely never will quit,
Especially with a pacemaker inspiring it.
My volleyballer is a girl with makeup that’s smeared,
Her pretty face hits wood and so her features are weird,
But that’s because she’s keeping her glass eye on the ball
And doesn’t see the bleachers into which she will fall.
We see each other eye to eye and know that we care,
The trouble is, she’s horizontal high in the air,
And so she flies around the court into walls of bricks,
My sweet and lovely volleyballer aviatrix.
She plays aggressive net and so takes shots in the nose,
She bumps the ball quite well and plays the game on her toes,
But these were surgically transplanted onto her hands
For upside down is usually the way that she lands.
We volleyballers all are players that are so tough,
With bodies bruised and broken and with manners so rough,
Or, rather, what is left of both of these after games,
The mutilated persons to which we give our names.
We find that as we play together we get the breaks,
Arthritis, scoliosis, gangrene, and nervous shakes,
And then we find paralysis is one of our cares,
But we’ll continue volleyball in our wheelchairs.
But that’s all right because we both have beautifully shared,
The parts that work on one are on the other impaired,
And this is really wonderful because you can see
Just why my fellow volleyballer’s precious to me.
©1985 Larry Sue
