Poetry: Will Shakespeare 400

By

Sunil Sharma

Will Shakespeare 400

He died on April 23, 1616

The same day he was born, in 1564.

Odd!

But the man from Stratford-upon-Avon

Was always full of surprises and turns unpredictable.

The University Wits could hardly fathom the guy with the twinkling eyes that broke all the barriers—but that was the temper of that age.

Flitting from Stratford to London

Full of dreams and the world, his stage

Consorting with kings queens princess and paupers

The King’s Men played for everybody, royalty or commoner

The Globe Theatre enacting scenes from Roman Empire to dark Danish courts to contemporary London to magical places

The man—now a Bard—putting on varied costumes and entertaining lines for the audience—notably the tough groundlings.

And then retirement and death took him away to a different realm

After shuffling off his mortal coil, Will truly became Immortal!

I mourn his death in 2016

I celebrate his re-birth again-n-again

I see him re-incarnated in each line read/heard/delivered.

The Stratford man is a global figure

And a perfect occasion—for marketing!

The Bard possesses an inner vision that is transcendental

We find him echoing our thoughts and anxieties eloquently!

The only regret?

Although many claim close ancestry and quote him randomly

—The industry is thriving!—

The fact is that the cultural offspring could never write like him.

I wish for another Hamlet and his famous question in this age of excessive consumption.

A Hamlet raging against corruption and probing the moral order

A King Lear babbling about things beyond comprehension

Bleak settings; the characters searching for meaning and sanity in a power-seeking society

And finally—

A Prospero coming to peace and returning to roots like a true human being.

Bard—400.

You live on, like a deity consecrated in our hearts.

A man-god who could see so many things in a single glance!

Dead/resurrecting.

Sunil Sharma

An English teacher with more than 23 years of degree-college teaching experience that includes administrative one (as vice-principal and now as full-fledged principal); freelance journalist with 15 years experience writing for the supplements of the Times of India, Mumbai, India and a widely-published bi-lingual writer, poet, novelist, interviewer, blogger, reviewer and literary editor.