Run up, take off... and shameful to be flying,
Dust in my mouth, my lids watering are:
Upon two metres twelve, that cursed line,
My way up was barred by the bar.

I’ll admit to you I cannot stop:
Such is athletic life all around -
Only for a moment are you at the top
And then you speedily fall to the ground.

But I’ll eat the fruit off the forbidden tree
And yank the tail of glory when I grab it tight
For everyone’s take-off foot is the left, you see,
While my take-off foot is the right!

Run up, take off... Witnesses to my fall
Drag my legs down with boos at what I did
My coach said, with no pity at all:
"What you are doing is LONG JUMPING, kid!

You’ll have a pulled groin if you don’t stop;
Right-foot jumping is a dumb whim, we’ve found;
You won’t make it up to the top
And you’ll speedily fall to the ground."

But I replied, angered-breathlessly,
But calm and coherently, that in my sight
The thing’s that they push off with the left, you see,
While I, I push off with the right.

Run up, push off... At my struggles in vain
My Canadian rival laughs as he’s in flight;
At two-twelve, I knocked the bar again
And my coach told me in plain sight

That right in yonder pond I’ll be drowned
So that others won’t follow along
If I won’t this very moment come down
From my right foot, that right foot that’s wrong.

But a cup of hemlock I’d rather drain
Or do something very nasty to myself
But though my not-right right foot is in vain -
I won’t switch to the right left, for two metres twelve!

The grandstands laugh aloud to themselves
But I try on; their mockery won’t last...
Run up, take off, and flight... Two metres twelve
Is now a rite of passage I have passed!

And if I’m limping hard from my hop
And my pulled groin aches in the night -
But still, I have been to the top
And you can’t push me off of that height!

So I ate the fruit of the forbidden tree
And yanked the tail of glory when I grabbed it tight
Although they take off from the left, you see,
While my take-off foot is the right.