Monday
In his farewell to basketball, Kobe Bryant wrote a poem expressing his appreciation of the game he had played with unmatched intensity and excellence. The poem takes on a new complexion when we read it in light of his death yesterday in a helicopter crash, becoming a reminder that we must live life with Kobe’s intensity if we are to do it full justice. We don’t know when our end will be, but we know what we can do now.
I am struck that Kobe turned to poetry rather than prose to help him let go of basketball. Poetry, as I tell my students, is language going as far as language can to capture our feelings. Given how difficult it was for Kobe to walk away from the game, prose wouldn’t have served his purpose. Twice I too turned to literature to capture his struggle, once comparing him to the aging head wolf in the Jungle Books and once admiring Sherman Alexi’s reflections about him.
There are other basketball poems that are far superior. (Check out Quincy Troupe’s wonderful homage to Magic Johnson.) But given our sorrow, this is the poem we need right now.
From the moment
I started rolling my dad’s tube socks
And shooting imaginary
Game-winning shots
In the Great Western Forum
I knew one thing was real:
I fell in love with you.
A love so deep I gave you my all —
From my mind & body
To my spirit & soul.
As a six-year-old boy
Deeply in love with you
I never saw the end of the tunnel.
I only saw myself
Running out of one.
And so I ran.
I ran up and down every court
After every loose ball for you.
You asked for my hustle
I gave you my heart
Because it came with so much more.
I played through the sweat and hurt
Not because challenge called me
But because YOU called me.
I did everything for YOU
Because that’s what you do
When someone makes you feel as
Alive as you’ve made me feel.
You gave a six-year-old boy his Laker dream
And I’ll always love you for it.
But I can’t love you obsessively for much longer.
This season is all I have left to give.
My heart can take the pounding
My mind can handle the grind
But my body knows it’s time to say goodbye.
And that’s OK.
I’m ready to let you go.
I want you to know now
So we both can savor every moment we have left together.
The good and the bad.
We have given each other
All that we have.
And we both know, no matter what I do next
I’ll always be that kid
With the rolled up socks
Garbage can in the corner
:05 seconds on the clock
Ball in my hands.
5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1
Love you always,
Kobe