The poem 'The Winner'

Open your book, Poorvi, at page 116 and read the poem 'The Winner' by Georgia Heard. It is very short, only fifteen short lines. Read it aloud and notice how some lines have just one word.

Here is what the poem tells, in short. In the evenings, the speaker and friends play ball in their neighbour's field, next to a creek, a small stream of water. The speaker is not alone: the poem says 'we' play.

They run so fast that the speaker cannot even catch a breath; running fast makes you breathless. The poet puts the words about this one on each line, so that we read slowly, as if we too are out of breath.

Then the evening sky, dark blue at first, turns black. The grass feels cold and makes their feet ache. In the dark, the trees seem to creep closer. The game is over.

The poem ends by saying that Night wins! The poet writes about Night as if it were a player in the game, and Night is 'the winner' because the time for play has ended: once it is dark, the children must stop and go home.

The poem remembers the carefree joy of playing outside as a child, the kind of fun that needs nothing more than a ball, a field and friends, until the evening ends it.