I wish I could forget that craggy mug

In any given doctor’s waiting room

Provided like free samples of a drug

To numb our fears of sickness and the tomb
With strangers’ chosen pains, affairs and beefs.

Who should be sorry, or who’s coming out?

A test dissolves a family’s beliefs—

The father’s name now known beyond all doubt.
The host consoles, cajoles and referees

Until hour’s end, and that, friends, is the show.

Tomorrow’s guests and their dark comedies

Will come from ranks as limitless as woe.
His talents thus employed, what have we missed?

One hears he used to be a journalist.