The Joker

In the glare of a stalking spotlight, impulsively he moves As his eyes adjust to the mystery of the darkness beyond His animated monologue flows with fervent idioms sweet As a vintage wine its bouquet smooth and bold, and fraught With the appreciation of an applauding audience As his pacing intensifies so do the decibels of infectious Laughter and for a moment in the solitude of his ebullient Soul this escape from his own reality is painless, and his Stage is now his only world And on the podium of life the melancholy in the verses of His poetry and the songs of his heart tell their own Profound story, of a man embedded in the fabric of those who Accentuated his quest to proliferate the virtue that is love As his persona evolved through the episodes of being Many knew him but knew him not And when the social furor of onerous times beckoned This panacea of the distressed responded with a luminous Heart the consummate giver that he was And when he rode the night the winds told him their stories The stars guided him with their twinkle and the moon blessed Him with love, he was not alone The epitome of friendship was at his side as he exposed his Soul unclothed his conscience, and returned counsel to his Friend As I remember him, I feel his presence and tears fill somber Eyes and memories abound of the age of impulsive energy Where his unbridled capacity for humor was honed, resulting In the hilarious skillful and insightful stand-up routines That flowed so effortlessly And in the animation of the sprit I see his face and though Not a word is uttered and no good byes are said the silence Speaks and in the aftermath of a solitary teardrop kissing A daunted cheek a smile is born How I wish we could ride the night one more time again But the lights have gone dim, and the audience has applauded For the final time, and he has left his stage on his way to a Command performance in the sky This Joker this man of many visions now gone with many secrets Of the night was my friend Earl S. Jackson April 2007 Copyright © 2009 Earl S. Jackson, all rights reserved.