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Nat Lipstadt May 2022
If we are mark’d to die, we are enow
    To do our country loss; and if to live
    The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
    God’s will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.

    By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
    Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
    It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
    Such outward things dwell not in my desires:

    But if it be a sin to covet honour,
    I am the most offending soul alive.
    No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England:
    God’s peace! I would not lose so great an honour

    As one man more, methinks, would share from me
    For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
    Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
    That he which hath no stomach to this fight,

    Let him depart; his passport shall be made
    And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
    We would not die in that man’s company
    That fears his fellowship to die with us.

    This day is call’d the feast of Crispian:
    He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
    Will stand a tip-toe when this day is named,
    And rouse him at the name of Crispian.

    He that shall live this day, and see old age,
    Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbors,
    And say ‘Tomorrow is Saint Crispian:’
    Then he will strip his sleeve and show his scars,

    And say ‘These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.’
    Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
    But he’ll remember with advantages
    What feats he did that day: then shall our names

    Familiar in his mouth as household words:
    Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
    Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
    Be in their flowing cups freshly remember’d,

    This story shall the good man teach his son;
    And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
    From this day to the ending of the world,
    But we in it shall be remembered;

    We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
    For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
    Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
    This day shall gentle his condition:

    And gentlemen in England now abed
    Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
    And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
    That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.
St. Crispin’s Day

By William Shakespeare

“Memorial  Day inspires mixed emotions: pride in the valor of those who gave their lives in the cause of freedom; sorrow that such self-sacrifice should have been necessary. Pride in past valor may be best expressed in the St. Crispin’s Day speech from “Henry V” (Act IV, Scene iii), delivered by the young king on the eve of the Battle of Agincourt”
cleann98 May 2022
bid me break out from thy wilted willows;
beckon, my reckless abandon allowed;
touch to rouse korre her fearful sorrows;
for thine to err is my own will't enshroud.

shy, ajar curtain, love-performing night;
for thine vows aplain, tacit, unspoken;
thine weary worn feet to wash incontrite;
alas, love: rest unwoed of wheres or when.

not tamed nor swayn, no fam'ly to relent;
no montagues, no capulets, unnamed;
none more days wasted wishing a time bent;
just apollo's sky, ne'er beating hearts blamed.

say, dear romeo, has love now grown stale;
'thout sweet poems and tearful eyes to watch us—

            —fail?
another pretty old one~~ i think i made this even before the pandemic?

the title and the rest of the poem is based on a beautiful soliloquy from act iii scene ii of romeo and juliet. the poem is written in an almost perfect shakespearean sonnet format with the exception of an extra syllable or a failed rhyme at the very end (or the bad iambic pentameter in the second stanza)^

did you know that that particular soliloquy in itself would have been a perfect sonnet if it wasn't for romeo's name that just wouldn't fit the line neatly? ****, if only their names were different huh...

anyway, thank you for reading~~
Ceyhun Mahi Feb 2022
I speak with poets old and almost ancient,
Pressing their books against my burning chest,
Trying to stay with their verses patient,
Understood by few, complex to the rest.
I read the sonnets of the lovestruck Bard,
In little books who're filled with lofty meanings,
Finding it sometimes easy, and sometimes hard
To really understand 'bout what he sings.
My colored imagination is filled
With worlds unknown to windows of souls,
Right there, only with sweet tenderness build,
Making it easier to reach my goals,
    I travel, see and float with poetry,
    To gates of other worlds, while she's my key.
Evangeline Feb 2022
Poor, thou, little girl who thought
Love would get to thee one day,
Bet thou never thought to expect
It would culminate in doom.

And I am the resurrection in thy tomb
And the life that speaks of mercy at close of day,
Muddy Waters carry thou so far away
From Polonius and Laertes,
Tears in bloom.

Denmark's Prince in shambles thine heart left,
Dissembling and conniving against kin,
In his heart only one ambition firm:
Take back his rightful throne and fair Gertrude.

Neither Shakespeare nor Victoria save thee could
From the evil of the quill, it's own mind set.
In the labyrinth of the parchment thine fate met
"To be or not to be?"
Aye, there's the rub.
Carlo C Gomez Jan 2022
~
Long live the king!
That is until—zooks!—a correspondence
from one indiscreet mistress
falls into the wrong hands
and passes before
the queen's eyes
it then becomes time
for a little Shakespearean tragedy

~
Latina1813 Dec 2021
so im here to baby sit while u cry over ur
non ex
ex cause me
I dont buy it
I won't even waste my change on it
u can't change
I won't even give u a tip
ur just a cosmic tragedy
let ur emotions
dictate ever single movement
and that's why I cant see thru the *******
sorry but I got 30/20 vision
In both eyes
sometimes in my dreams
I can see our destiny's
yet u still here lying about the present
can't u see it hurts me to see
the truth come true
it's resilient
I see a truth 30/20 vision
dat u just can't accept
or admit to
telling u the end of us  begins with you
you just can't actually be true
u just can't actually be genuine
I pity you
a tragic comedy
something outta a Shakespearean tragedy.
‪ ‪”Pinch him!” I said.
“As you wish.” she said.

On this morning of the Great Snow,
perchance,  
I thought to myself
‘I am getting old’
and so I laughed out loud.

“Ah, at last, I see that you are!”
he then proclaimed,
while our wee Angus
vanished from the picnic.

“I want to come with you to Alderaan,” he said co-conspiring, and hearing that,
Jove laughed!

“O gentle Romeo, if thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully.”
And if I grow, the harvest will be mine and only mine
Because I am my own and you are yours.

The soil does not reap the rewards of the roots which brought forth spring bloom nor autumn crop.
The cloud which carried rainfall does not demand praise for the leaves it fed.
The sun does seek praise for the flower its rays coaxed heavenward
And you will not take credit for my soul and it’s abundance.
That is between me and my creator.
Mark Wanless Oct 2021
one of the poets
on planet thinks their shakespeare
which on is it   ha
Anais Vionet Sep 2021
Be reborn, departed Shakespeare
for now is truly the time to quench
your perpetual attraction to madness.

Threatened by the cruel hounds
of distemper and heated atmospheres,
our broken trusts and unhealthy emotions
set a luxurious bed for extravagant madness.

Be freed from truth, beloved bard
and unbound by complex thought
- relish in weakening America’s
obsessional social dysfunction.
Shakespeare was obsessed with madness and it's many causes.
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