Since Lichtenstein exalted Ray
and Brenda, let me give Magoo—
who always found a winning way
in spite of being blind—his due.
Unmarried, he’d play Scrooge and Tuck,
not Cratchit and not Robin Hood,
attributing his roles to luck,
the chance to do a world of good.
The loneliness, he didn’t mind;
nor did he know he couldn’t see.
I hope when I’m his age and blind
to be as kind and daft as he.
James B. Nicola is the author of six collections of poetry, the latest being Fires of Heaven: Poems of Faith and Sense. His decades of working in the theater culminated in the nonfiction book Playing the Audience: The Practical Guide to Live Performance, which won a Choice award.
