Harry Houdini

When I was an incipient student
I wasn’t interested in psychology,
or other boring subjects like that,
but was fascinated by escapology.
I wanted dearly to emulate Houdini
and duplicate his most daring exploits.
I had read extensively that Harry
was a talented man who was adroit
at getting free from any situation,
even when manacled and chained,
ostensibly without the help of a key.
It was only much later that I learnt
that everything he did was a trick.
He revealed his secrets in a book
in which he said he was able to pick
the locks with various instruments
including the use of shoestrings.
From the moment I discovered that
the key to his success was chicanery,
the scales dropped from my eyes
and I returned with a bump to reality:
by neglecting my academic studies
I had committed a sin of great gravity.

© Luigi Pagano 2009