The Phoenix

For decades, the good people of Salem have been terrorized by the wealthy and all powerful Stefano DiMera. He could make someone disappear without a trace only to return years later as someone else with no memory of his or her former life. The extent of DiMera's debauchery and torment visited upon the Brady and Horton families is expansive and often defies imagination. Until today...

Today, Days of Our Lives began where it left off on Friday, with someone shooting and killing a man who has died many times before but resurfaced just when Salem's residents were relaxed and unsuspecting.

I'm suspicious. Is this truly the finale of the long, virtuous-lacking life of Stefano DiMera? Is his death simply a clever ploy by the incomparable writing team who craft his dazzling crimes behind the scenes? Perhaps the person in that chair with a bullet hole in his back is an operative hired to impersonate DiMera while he is safely ensconced in a government hiding place. Remember, he had cooperated with the CIA or one of those alphabet laden organizations and was hailed a hero just days ago.

Whatever the case, Salem will not be the same without its most prolific and talented villain. Certainly, there are the likes of his son (rather, formerly thought to be son),EJ, his most recent ex-wife, Kate, and the only enemy who was vaguely close to possessing a comparable capacity for evilness, Victor Kiriakis, but one would be positively naive to think that anyone could hold a candle the Phoenix.

Oddly enough, nearly a month ago on May 9th, a poem for Stefano DiMera came to me totally out of the blue. I had no idea that my favorite villain, played so artfully, and with superb skill by Joseph Mascolo, would be coming to the end of his reign of terror. He will be missed.

And so I present to you The Phoenix. Enjoy.



The Phoenix

An untimely demise
In the Brady clan
Usually means Stefano DiMera
Has blood on his hands
Most evil, most vile
Or just gutsy and smart?
He’ll do the deed
When no one else has the heart
If there’s trouble brewing
You know he’s stirring the pot
A cold-blooded villain, but when he rises
From the ashes, the Phoenix keeps Salem hot!



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