NaPM Aril 3rd 2019

[dukealien]

Damned Old Mole


What does it profit Hamlet’s father’s ghost
to pour his poison into his son’s ear?
Condemned to Hell when he, unshriven, died,
what benefit does he, afire, derive
from dragging down his murderer to face
like torments?  Not to mention his own son
who died red-handed, likewise regicide,
and, too, unshriven.  What this revenant
affirms is his unwillingness to grant
forgiveness, for which he deserves his Hell.

---

And, for the hidden option - just when I thought I'd figured out the assignment (did I?)


Verso


We thought on solid glories of the past,
of marble obelisks, reflecting pools
on which stern statuary frowned.
This was our true religion, built to last.

But soon these visions seemed the dream of fools,
conceits reality has ever drowned:
we could not cope, change ran too fast.
So, for diverting dreams, we changed our rules.

We thought of gleaming townships we would found,
of future cities brightly domed and glassed.
Our hopes became our planning tools;
we hammered markers into fallow ground.