The Washington Sport Scene: 1953

[RonPrice]

EH FRANK?

 

As a fellow manic-depressive, Frank Sinatra lived a life, he said, “of violent emotional contradictions” with “an over-acute capacity for sadness as well as elation.”1 I did not become aware of the sadness of life until I was nineteen, although in retrospect I can see its emergence as early as the age of twelve or even four; the elation I can also see in retrospect in aspects of my primary school life, my sport life and the brief but strongly present romantic episodes which I remember as early as the age of five.-Ron Price with thanks to a 1“Frank Sinatra Biography,” Internet, December 17th, 2004.

 

You’ve been there all my life, Frank,

becoming a sensation just as I was born,1

always there, Frank, at least until recently.2

like my grandfather long ago, on the periphery.

We’ve both had our ups-and-downs, eh Frank?

Why you were the first singer with fan hysteria

back in the last years of the Seven Year Plan

with the first bobby-soxers who loved you, Frank.

 

When the Kingdom of God got going in ’53,

you were into the film From Here to Eternity.

With your crooning style in the next three epochs

awards-and notoriety-just kept on coming your way.

I’ve found your singing style useful, Frank:

softly hit the high notes and a gentle drag

over the lower ones--in life, Frank, in life,

and hopefully without losing a syllable.

No more syllables to worry about now, Frank,

eh Frank?

 

1 Sinatra became a sensation in the mid-1940’s. I was born in 1944.

2 Frank Sinatra died on May 14th 1998 in my last year as a professional teacher. He was born On December 12th 1915, 15 weeks before ‘Abdu’l-Baha began writing His Tablets of the Divine Plan.

 

Ron Price December 17th 2004

[Guest Keisha]

Ron,

Your words are deep and moving.