Lawrence Hall
Mhall46184@aol.com

                                      Here May You See the Tyrant

                     And live to be the show and gaze o’ th’ time.
                     We’ll have thee, as our rarer monsters are,
                     Painted upon a pole, and underwrit
                    “Here may you see the tyrant.”

                                        -Macbeth V.viii.28-31

Once upon a time he strutted across the stage
Peering into a cauldron presented to him
And stirring it about for a viler taste
Soul-sickness for sale from a poisoned chalice

But now he lurks in his dime-store Dunsinane
Conjuring magic baubles that do not exist
Comic-book ikons of himself for sale
To sucker the intellectually innocent

He cannot admit that his life was a lie
A non-fungible token to its end