| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
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| A Football-Player |
| | | Edward Cracroft Lefroy (b. 1855) |
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| IF I could paint you, friend, as you stand there, | |
| Guard of the goal, defensive, open-eyed, | |
| Watching the tortured bladder slide and glide | |
| Under the twinkling feet; arms bare, head bare, | |
| The breeze a-tremble through crow-tufts of hair; | 5 |
| Red-brown in face, and ruddier having spied | |
| A wily foeman breaking from the side, | |
| Aware of him,—of all else unaware: | |
| If I could limn you, as you leap and fling | |
| Your weight against his passage, like a wall; | 10 |
| Clutch him, and collar him, and rudely cling | |
| For one brief moment till he falls—you fall: | |
| My sketch would have what Art can never give— | |
| Sinew and breath and body; it would live. | |
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