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The Boxer by Ron Whitehead

June 9, 2016 Ron Whitehead Poetry 0

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art by Joey Feldman

Today I visited Muhammad Ali’s childhood home and The Ali Center to pay my respects to the poet, boxer, non-violent spiritual warrior, truth teller, hero. Daddy and my brother Brad and I listened to every Cassius Clay fight on the AM Radio. I watched every Muhammad Ali fight on TV. I followed his life. My Dad was the fiercest man around. He was a bare knuckle boxer. He also boxed with gloves. He taught Brad and me how to box, wrestle and street fight. I’ve been blessed with many teachers who have taught me to never give up. I wrote the poem “Never Give Up” with The Dalai Lama. I recited a poem to Muhammad Ali five minutes before he met The Dalai Lama for the first time. Muhammad Ali never gave up. Like The Dalai Lama he was a great teacher. I felt Daddy’s spirit with me today as I honored the life of a real human being, my hero Muhammad Ali.

 

the boxer 

“a champion is someone who gets back up even when he can’t.”
jack dempsey

 

i’ve been down so low the ground looked up
failure has been my greatest success

daddy was a boxer
the fiercest of them all

he never lost a fight
he taught me how to take a punch a punch

and another punch always watching
for the opening then fast as lightning

jab jab jab kaboom daddy was a boxer
he taught me how to fight

he taught me how to fight through pain
ignoring blood sweat and tears

to never give up no matter what
to keep fighting so i became a boxer

unlike daddy i’ve lost more fights than i’ve won
but daddy taught me to never give up

that life is rarely fun
time and time and time again

i hit rock bottom with nowhere left to go
many times i stood alone

but every time i failed
slowly surely i found a way to rise again

a rocky rugged mountain
is my body now

a poet from kentucky
with a gentle soul

miles and miles i’ve traveled many fights i’ve fought
oh the story of my life

despite the losses
against all odds

relentlessly leaning into the wind
without regrets i remain

the boxer

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