The Baseball Players

By Donald Hall b. 1928 Donald Hall

Against the bright

grass the white-knickered

players tense, seize,

and attend. A moment

ago, outfielders

and infielders adjusted

their clothing, glanced

at the sun and settled

forward, hands on knees;

the pitcher walked back

of the hill, established

his cap and returned;

the catcher twitched

a forefinger; the batter

rotated his bat

in a slow circle. But now

they pause: wary,

exact, suspended while

abiding moonrise

lightens the angel

of the overgrown

garden, and Walter Blake

Adams, who died

at fourteen, waits

under the footbridge.

ABOUT THIS POEM

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Poet Donald Hall b. 1928

POET’S REGION U.S., New England

Subjects Living, Death, Activities, Sports & Outdoor Activities

Poetic Terms Free Verse

More about this poem

Considered one of the major American poets of his generation, Donald Hall’s poetry explores the longing for a more bucolic past and reflects the poet’s abiding reverence for nature. Although Hall gained early success with his first collection, Exiles and Marriages (1955), his more recent poetry is generally regarded as the best of his career. Often compared favorably with such writers as James Dickey, Robert Bly, and James . . .

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