by Julian I. Taber
You are a licensed fool, empowered to bear
about the castle a bauble stick that’s dressed
with ass’s ears and tassels and fox’s hair.
You simper on about some noble quest,
and mutter curses, rhymes and scriptures
that spoil milk and mold the game on hooks
all hung away to foil dogs and vultures
that flock to feast around the heels of cooks.
Who gave you sanction, by what majority?
What moral virtue or tortured plot
stood the test of winning this authority,
or was your status fear coerced, or bought?
The kingdom decorates this gorgeous fool
whose toxic tune and dance grow sour now.
He is, in all, our fool, our hero, our tool,
our mirror of self, our light, our sacred cow.
But jokes by fools out-kill the cannon’s fire
and may dissolve in grief the whole empire.
Julian I. Taber is a retired clinical psychologist who specialized in treating addictions and was one of the first mental health professionals to work with pathological gamblers. He has been given two national awards for this work. His first book, Learning and Programmed Instruction, was published by Addison-Wesley. His next book, In the Shadow of Chance, was privately published by members of Gamblers Anonymous. Distributed by the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling, it is used in counselor training workshops. He is author of Poems for the Rest of Us, a poetry chapbook.
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