"Hitler was probably better company than you!"
A Special Providence
Hamlet, en route to England,
Jumped ship for a plot device
Looked around
& said
Something isn’t right.
Pirates don’t happen
To just anyone, he cried,
I’m in a fucking play!
& as the wind caught
& carried them Denmark-ward
Hamlet cradled his head
In his hands
& it was bitterness
That brought that laugh
Which is why
When the foils
Were brought forward
One blade unbated,
Dripping venom
Hamlet knew
Who to hand it to
& knew to hit his mark,
Though the shock
Was still as sharp
As the sword that tore his side
& as, bloodied,
The sparrow did fall
& the revengeful,
Melancholic prince’s
Final speech was called for
Oh, he said, Oh, Horatio
I’ve spent this whole damn play talking
And I’ve still not said -
But that, I’m sure,
Is not my line.
And the rest, indeed,
Was silence,
So Horatio did his damnest
To dry his darkening eyes
Ordered the bodies
Placed high on a stage,
Heel-turned to address
The mute audience of the act
& wondered
What Hamlet
Had meant.