Ode to a Journalist

You made up your mind to view the world With different eyes —eyes recessed, eyes inundated with lustre, Straining to catch every flight of the dancing seasons that hurled Man and beast beyond frontiers with baluster. You are the town-crier of our time, delivering messages printed on banners That hail the energy of the heated earth. What a voice you possess! So smooth and euphonious, it rings loud and clear With the gumption of a king’s augurer, leaving behind manners That haunt us pleasantly with bliss and mirth, Suggesting frantically the suavity of a seer Journalism has come to judgement, fragmented by words and the eloquence Of time and grace. Are you not equal to the task? The world admits you certainly are! And with supreme relevance Your disciples are many, Dear one, flaunting the task Of imitation — they litter the world like tiny red beads flung and scattered Beyond boundaries stretching from sea to coast You are a lover of words, speaking with valour even on the arcades Of fright, charming viewers with the powers of gathered Attention when rainy nights and dewy mornings boast Loudly of integrated existence of cascades An anointed raconteur you are, reeling off tale after tale By moonlight of cosseted playgrounds I assume you frequented gatherings, prelapsarian, on a scale So great that the sage spoke on select backgrounds How do you do it? Do you burn candles with scented tallow, and without Need of a flint —thus reluming primitively dark alleyways? You are the light that shines on tenebrous path and grit, Revealing fey monsters responsible for the drought That burned the pennants of truth posted on archways. I never before knew an institution of mass communication Until the bright age of running news crowned your labours By way of a universally attended coronation The world attributes to you the favours Of heavens and caverns of Eudemons. Arise, Dear One, arise and claim your special flair, Make noise with the reeds of the Nile and dance gracefully As you dine on stewed cinnamons Rest assured you’re deeply blessed, Dear one with a dare; I assure you mightily, speaking faithfully.