Ode to the Babes: A Poem by Lew Fink

It happened 60 years ago
On a Munich runway in the driving snow
England’s finest football team,flying high
But their plane would never reach the sky
A tragedy that should never have been
How the cruellest of fates would intervene

ROGER BYRNE:A local lad,who captained the team
Lightning-quick and clever ,a leader supreme.

GEOFF BENT :Salford-born left back played just 12 games.
Not to be forgotten among much bigger names.

EDDIE COLEMAN:Snakehips they called him,he dazzled the crowd
The cheekie-chappie from Ordsall who made us so proud.

MARK JONES:Tough as old boots,he played without fear.
With true Yorkshire grit ,how we all shed a tear.

LIAM”BILLY” WHELAN;He hailed from Dublin,so gifted and neat.
A marksman so lethal with the ball at his feet.

TOMMY TAYLOR:The Barnsley-battler ,how the goals used to flow
The World Cup was beckoning,but we’ll never know.

DAVID PEGG:Swift as an arrow,he’d soar down the wing.
The Doncaster kid who made your heart sing.

DUNCAN EDWARDS:A colossus ,with everything, truly one of the greats
The dynamo from Dudley passed through Heaven@s Gates.

Twenty three people would die that day
Returning from Belgrade,for their souls we all pray.
Sir Matt Busby’s Babes,UNITED forever.
Their names will live on for ever and ever.
Amen.