The Storyteller

Austin Price, Editor in Chief

There was a great storyteller

Who told tales of you and me

The sweet songbird of literature

Who relied on his ABC’s

His currency was parchment

Stained deep with black paint

He often spent his days alone

It gave him time to think

He was a chameleon of sorts

You could never tell what mask he wore

You might recognize him in the after

But he stays a stranger in the before

He drives the yellow bus on your way to school

He cleans the conference room after meeting

He’s the quiet neighbor who lives across the street

He doesn’t answer the door when your trick-or-treating 

He’s a hoarder of words

He captures, categorizes and collects

Your deepest, darkest secrets

Your ultimate regrets

He speaks countless languages

He is the ultimate translator

He shares your secrets

He is history, it’s mediator

With the words he writes

He exposes humanity

Illuminating the good and the bad

Revealing the ugly

He scribbled his thoughts

Ancient hands begin to shake

The splotches of liquid color

Mark the page with intentional mistakes

The storyteller is a narrator for us all

Documenting our best and our worst

He remains neutral in his writing

For the naked truth must come first

With a mind like a mouse trap

Enticing the reader in

Only to take them hostage 

And let the games begin

The work of the storyteller never ends

There will always be more to record

The secrets are shared

And the readers are never bored

When his days of writing are over

The storyteller does not quit

His tasks are passed on

For new stories will always exist

Once the pages are drying

And the stories have been told

He seals the letters tightly

And signs them in gold