Sestina Poem, the Comedian

It will be the first appearance for the comedian.
He prepares to greet his audience,
hopeful of making them laugh
with his charm and story telling.
He is confident in his jokes,
and has polished each of the punch lines.

But what if some of these fail, his punch lines?
That is what will make this comedian,
his ability to tell more jokes
to regain favor with the audience.
And it will be telling,
if he can again make them laugh.

For it is his job to make them laugh.
To prepare them for the punch lines
no matter how funny the joke he is telling.
It is the only way to succeed as a comedian,
to properly set up his audience
so that they can appreciate his jokes.

And so he walks on stage, alone with his jokes.
He is scared, but hopeful they will laugh.
He smiles as he greets the audience,
prepared to deliver the punch lines,
to become what he has wanted to be, a comedian,
one who can master the art of story telling.

He introduces himself and begins his telling
of one of his oldest jokes
which helped influence this would be comedian.
He can sense as they start to laugh,
they are ready for the punch line,
he pauses, he has the audience.

The applause rises from the audience.
Impressed with his story telling,
loving each and every punch line,
appreciating his jokes,
continuing to laugh
and thank this young comedian.

So he has proven to the audience he is indeed a comedian,
able through his story telling to make them laugh.
For him there is no punch line, his dream was not a joke.