Yesterday, I watched the Duke Men’s Lacrosse team lose to North Carolina. Today, I find myself reflecting on the loss. It was a close game. While thinking about the game, I remembered a poem I wrote 15 years ago as a senior in high school during which lacrosse was my life!

“In this satirical poem, I am using the Duke Lacrosse team as my example. Recently, members of the team have been accused of raping and verbally assaulting a hired dancer. I compared them to kings because like kings they wanted more and more while feeling untouched. I used history figures such as King Longshanks and King Henry II both of England, (at different times), to allude the brutality and greed that the team felt. King Longshanks and King Henry II ruled England, but during their reigns war and corruption was seen. Each king became blind by their power and greed that followed their success. Same situation with the Duke Lacrosse team; they too became stupid because of. their winning but then taking it to a whole other level. As a result, they demoralized the reputation of lacrosse!”

THE KINGS OF DUKE

For the 2005 season that ended in second best,
The Duke Men’s Lacrosse team had beaten all the rest.
But losing to Johns Hopkins in the championship game,
The princes of Duke looked at 2006 for great fame!

Ranked as number two,
They felt untouched and no team could break through.
Winning their first three matches, then dropping one,
The next three games had all been won.

The team of princes shared their riches with the entire student body;
Hosting rip roaring parties that were all very shoddy.
And over night they became kings,
But as a result, their queens never got their rings.

They took it upon themselves to mate with some queens,
But got caught in their disgusting antics that were all obscene.
First it was King Longshanks, King Henry II, then three kings, and four,
As all took part, there was many more that waited at the castle’s door.

The queens that were there,
Were grabbed and thrown around by the hair,
Viciously assaulted which created a great stare.
They were regarded as trashy scum of which no words can compare.

The kings wanted more in their hazy view,
But didn’t stop their pillage till the morning blue.
The Captain King joined in the fun,
But the hookers themselves said he was no gentlemun!

Not with their lacrosse sticks did they try to score,
Though a hired dancer, she was treated like a whore.
Their incredible actions were not played on any lacrosse field,
But were violently preformed on each king’s shield.

The cops busted in and rummaged about,
They found the problem immediately without a doubt.
The kings were sent to their chambers with their dicks needing mending,
For this once happy group of kings were told that their season was ending.

The rest of the lacrosse nation watched in complete shame,
Now Duke’s reputation is anything but fame!

AGS
APRIL 2006

THE AFTERMATH

But all had stopped,
As the charges were dropped!
The evidence showed no ties,
It was all a bunch of fantastic lies!

The scandal still stings years later
With repercussions that could have been greater;
Though they were proven to be innocent,
The Kings of Duke are forever tainted by that one event!

AGS
MAY 2021