Despair In a Minute

This is the anatomy of the beast that is despair:
ten red shirts, fine-tuned, attuned, coming at nine blue ones in disarray, hanging on.
Fire running towards water.

Thiago Motta, his hamstring, and Italy snap.
2-0 turns to 4-0 turns to history.
Briny shirts, teary eyes.                                                                      
Bandwagon jumpers
sworn Spanish fans since circa 2008.

Pathetic. Painful. Despair:
look into it and glimpse its anatomy.

We reach the Final every six years:
1994, 2000, 2006, 2012.
We look towards 2018

Too far away.                                                                                            
Too far away.

Pirlo and I will almost be forty!                                                
Warm middle-age interrupted
Churn of Spanish
production line of
cyborg talent in the distance.

Pass--pass--tiki--taka--churn--churn:
XaviIniestaFabregas--recursive.
More bandwagon jumpers,
The mediocre upon mediocre
supporting
the magnificent.
Pass--pass--tiki--taka--churn--churn

Make the incantation stop.                                                                  
Don't utter.

But say the beautiful:
Balo, black, bicycle
GOAL
Pirlo, penalty, panenka
GOAL
Again!
Balo, black, blistering
GOAL
GOAL

Anatomy of hope:
Straight, limber, and sturdier
flicks away the despair.

We wait for Gli Azzurri.
With hope.