07-14-2016, 02:20 PM
From youth we pass to the twilight age
on the Shakespearean stage
wondering if our part played right
before candles out, and all is night -
did lurking joy and muted smiles belie
mad Othello’s rage or Desdemona’s cry?
Unforced we fell into our pageantry
and Brutus bootless knelt in Act Three,
choosing the formulaic writ decree
over being the one who'd part and play defy -
wind, not weather-vane; arrow, not eye.
on the Shakespearean stage
wondering if our part played right
before candles out, and all is night -
did lurking joy and muted smiles belie
mad Othello’s rage or Desdemona’s cry?
Unforced we fell into our pageantry
and Brutus bootless knelt in Act Three,
choosing the formulaic writ decree
over being the one who'd part and play defy -
wind, not weather-vane; arrow, not eye.
~ I think I just quoted myself - Achebe