HAMLET'S SKULL

Inexpressible except by verse
open in the mouths of angels

are your remains not buried
or burning a Blakean soul bright

in the snow of grave winters
of old England or in new chapters

you live because we live on stages
in a reckless age of ground zero

often dulled by abandoned
of popular entertainment

or abomination of universal will
we play you again

shaped by fortune in nature
or skilled in majorities

of the dull politic
and chattering classes

that we approach you
with love in dreadful overkill

but you are dear Hamlet,
be still and know no grief

we invite you to watch us
with new costumes and cast

for who wrote of your past
had an understanding of belief

that your skull and skill
in my hands will outlast my words.