Sitting here in my gown
I remember my once brown
Hair, now white.
Fishing is delight
(And often pain).
And frequently we gain
Our wish in fish.
But oh! how quickly our desire
For a particular fish does expire.
And then we fish
For yet more fish.
But time’s great line
Hooks us all
In the end.
Dusk softly falls
. As blackbirds call
Tis a kind of poetry
As brother calls to brother.
Or, more prosaically,
Its merely territory.
But tis poetry to me.
My friend who is high in society
Said, “Kevin, I am fond of variety.
That pretty Miss Lou
Goes well with Sue!”.
I said, “there’s some merit in sobriety!”.
As I entered my fine old bedroom
I met a young lady named Moon.
I said, “my dear,
What brings you here?”.
She said, “you’re smoking a magic mushroom!”.
She remembered my name
And what I drink.
Yet I think
That she
Will not dance
With me.
Middle age
May engage
With youth.
But the truth
Is that she
Will not dance
With me.
Yet she
Remembered my drink.
But still
I think
That she
Will not dance
With me.
A middle-aged man
With white hair.
Is that how
She remembers me?
’Tis merely vanity
That makes me care
I dreamed of you last night
And by the morning’s dim light
I listened to the rain
And thought of Lady Macbeth
Whose Heart
Shakespeare’s art
Made clean
In death.
I left the woodland path
To let the couple pass,
And heard the young girl laugh.
I think on urban foxes mating
And remember men impatiently waiting
Whilst the police cleared away.
All this fleeting thought
Of our brief day
Must end in nought.
I met a young lady named Autumn
Who said she was up for fun.
I often recall
How leaves fall
And Autumn, who was such great fun!
Often I imagine you
Without sock or shoe.
But the wise learn
That fantasies of lust
Soon turn
To dust.
On Monday evening, I met a friend for a drink in a pub. At some point in our conversation my friend questioned the relevance of Shakespeare to school children. In essence his argument was that it was more important for children to learn to read and write than it was for young people to grapple with the Bard.
I disagreed on the grounds that an appreciation of beauty (much of Shakespear’s language is beautiful) is essential to the good/civilised society. I also contended that society would be the poorer where we to simply concentrate on reading, writing and maths. We should encourage children to look up at the stars rather than merely on cramming them full of facts Mr Gradgrind style.
The discussion with my friend caused me to Google the issue of the teaching of Shakespeare, and whilst doing so I came across this article, https://www.edweek.org/leadership/opinion-why-im-rethinking-teaching-shakespeare-in-my-english-classroom/2019/10.
Goering is reputed to have said that when he heard the word culture he reached for his revolver. On reading the above piece I reached for my metaphorical revolver in despair at those who argue that children should be exposed only to “relevant”/”modern” authors to whom they can relate. Whilst the author of the above piece does acknowledge that Shakespeare should continue to be taught, she says that this should be in order to help students to relate his work to modern society/contemporary issues. I have no problem with children finding something in Hamlet (in the character of Ophelia) that teaches/makes them think about the role of women. However the beauty of the language is what resonates with me.
Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” speech is a wonderful piece of poetry, as is Macbeth’s “tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace till the last syllable of recorded time. And all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. Out, out brief candle …”. I am quoting from memory so apologies for the undoubted errors. However the fact that I (and many others) can quote large parts of Shakespeare shows his relevance to us all.
I rest my case.
K Morris - Poet 