The Five-Man Band

Nothing great is a one-man island.

You do need your tall bastion, your beacon,

Your courageous, contagious leading man,

But that one needs a second-in-command,

A reasoned, worldly foil to royalty,

An un-parch-able pool of wisdom and loyalty,

and an accomplished accomplisher of accomplishment,

A bringer of duct tape and bootstraps sent

To teach the Tao of getting things done,

A path-blazing, well-practiced, practical one,

Whose doings are informed by one wiser than these

Who presents and illuminates great mysteries,

Who has seen everything, and done more two,

Whose carries the stories, and more than a few.

The truth of their stories is illuminated by the last,

The perilously, prodigiously prodigal poet,

The talk-before-thinker, the two-fisted drinker

Now balanced, one water bottle in each hand,

The heavy-past-ed lessons-of-experience man,

The big guy who rounds out the five-man band.