Steve Irwin 'The Crocodile Hunter' (In Memorial)

(CLEVELAND) - Marlin Perkins of Wild Kingdom, Jack Hanna, Joan Embery from the San Diego Zoo were mainstays enlightening us to the mores of the animal kingdom.

Today the channels are overwhelmed with croc this, gator that, snake here, tiger there, so on and so forth. And with this flooding of the airwaves, a phrase comes to mind, “often imitated but never duplicated.”

One individual still emerges as the, “king of the ant hill” if you will. You see, his personality brought a sense of human perspective in covering their world.

He made it more like a family gathering as opposed to a biology seminar. Steve Irwin was not in it for the money but for the love and safety of his extended siblings.

Alas, commercialism has taken over along with nonsense because now the people outshine the wildlife from the show(s) they are supposed to be about in the first place. You are gone but not forgotten.

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Steve Irwin 'The Crocodile Hunter' (In Memorial)

I think the year was 1996, maybe 97,
I received a call from my good friend Kevin,
Man you’ve got to watch this guy named Steve Irwin,
In the swamps with gators & crocs he should be called Merlin.

As in the magician I asked? Well the reply was, not quite,
This dude is for real, with his hands there is no slight,
With nothing else on, I turned to give him a view,
Whoa, now the number of fans will be at least two.

A star was born in the swamp on that summer day,
Risking his life while calling it play,
Where was this Irwin guy from? Australia, no wonder,
I’ve always heard they do things different Down Under.

Not that it’s a bad thing, remember the brothers Gibb?
Like their music, it was a different style that he lived,
With that accent and huge genuine smile on his face,
Definitely couldn’t have been from any other place.

Looking back at the hours and years of entertaining,
It’s sad to realize we’ll only see him on film remaining,
As he became ever more professional in his chosen craft,
Always managing to give a scare only to end with a laugh.

Steve thought mankind more ferocious than a lion’s lair,
Even said getting married seemed to give him a scare,
After seeing Terri, his supportive wife with him on the show,
You knew about that remark he was joking, you know.

Snakes, hippos, whatever there was never an end,
Little did these creatures know what a wonderful friend,
How can Steve Irwin be described, where would one begin?
Another untimely death let this be the beginning, not the end.

We live in a me first world that’s mostly about high society,
Here was a mere mortal, who cared little about notoriety,
Steve’s smile was lovingly mirrored on Bindi, his little girl's face,
How proud she was of him, no one will ever take his place.

For sure many such shows have begun to paddled up stream,
My what a joy, family entertainment, fun, educational and clean,
Yes, Steve Irwin the Crocodile Hunter is no longer the only one,
Just try telling that to his lovely wife, daughter and Bob their son.

Imagine Irwin telling St. Peter he’s early only to be told he’s late,
I can see the Croc Hunter scratching his head standing by the Pearly Gates,
You see Steve, God Almighty is about to start His Heavenly Zoo,
When I asked Him who was going to be in charge, He smiled & said, “You.”

By Luke Easter

Luke Easter is a poet who writes about things that are very close to the heart of Salem-News.com. Another former U.S. Marine, Luke heals the world with an approach that reaches people on a different level, one known for centuries, yet too often forgotten in the one we live in.

We live in a world of social & economic injustice. The main reason for founding America in the first place was to relieve the oppression of the King of England. Patrick Henry said it best, “give me liberty or give me death.” And yet, all too often death seems to be the only way out. Why is there such a high suicide rate especially among teens, in the land of the free & the home of the brave? What makes headlines? Good news? Ha! More depressing stories than anything else. I feel poetry takes an edge off the hurt of bad news while still delivering it but in a, “glitzy” sort of way. Giving a different perspective. Kind of like slap in the face as opposed to a knife in the back. At least with the slap you’ll live to see another day and you will know whom it’s from. I wasn’t here for the beginning of the world but at 59, I just might be here for the end.

Even though it’s still a knife, rhyme poetry helps to dull the blade. And that’s my job. You can write to Luke Easter at: lyricsfromlucas@aol.com