THE MENTALIST

     What Sherlock Holmes was to another age,
     Now Patrick Jane, “the Mentalist,” has become,
     As cunning an observer and as sage
     At solving mysteries and cleansing scum.

     Though bordering on the supernatural
     Jane’s “powers” derive from a mentality
     That picks out clues which others cannot cull,
     Revealing clear what had been mystery.
 
     The writers, nonetheless, entice us to
     Suspect some eerie psychic power lies
     Behind Jane’s canniness, some residue
     Of magic tinged with rational disguise.
 
          But Jane would say the ways of reason are 
          More marvelous that wishing on a star.

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