"On The Writing of Historic Plays"

"On the Writing of Historic Plays”

Shakespeare moans about having to write another play for Queen Elizabeth I.

A light through yonder window breaks,

Nay, 'tis not Juliet, but the Sun,

Alerting me to another day

That I must riseth to the task

Bestowed on me by Royal Command.

Queen Beth desires heroic deeds

And histories writ of  Kings of yore,

Her kith and kins' embellished acts

Of bloody wars and battles won.

I do tire of these wretched tales

That needs me study times gone by.

'Tis dry this stuff of politics,

Of greed, of power and deceit.

I much prefer me subjects mad

Or driven to such crazed estate,

Of tacticians, sly and cold,

Who play and joust with power and fate.

Hamlet, Lear and the Scottish King,

Each with minds gone scrambled

As eggs upon a skillet,

Who carry with them to black depths,

Lovers, mothers and some their brothers.

Ah, but when me wakes in happy mood,

Inclined to fancies and to dreams,

I make a Puck in woods imagined

Or Sonnets filled with love and passion,

To feed ‘pon my divine distraction.

Finis