Roy Scheele  

Collaboration

...he that will fish
For my least minnow, let him lead his line
To catch one at my heart.
                 ----Third Queen, The Two Noble Kinsmen, I, 1

Only some apologist for Bacon
could ever miss the hand of Will in this,
or one who feels style's not to be forsaken--
some "after The Tempest, nothing" optimist.
But Will was nothing if not practical
and would, if asked, have helped the King's Men out;
let Fletcher strategize; he'd write a tactical
key scene or two where lesser men would pout
at second billing on the title page.
Thing was, they had to fill a void with speech,
as there was money to be made onstage,
but he stood out beyond the other's reach,
his rhythms tauter and his metaphors
like fish in water that the light explores.

Patchwork

Bare bodkin, sharper than a serpent's tooth,
a sea of troubles gets thee mighty wet.
Ay, there's the rub!  The sea's incarnadine,
if not a star to every wandering bark.
Blow, blow, thou wind, and crack thy cheeks! 
What ho!(Two nonnies, less a nonny, makes a no.)
Thou taught'st me language, and my profit on't's
I know how to curse, by Sycorax!
Those are Pearle's that were his eyes.  That thyme
of year thou mayest in me behold (here's rosemary
and rue) bare ruined choirs where late the sweet
birds sang...all the qualities o' the isle.
Look you: the woods are lovely, dark and deep,
and our little life is rounded with a sleep.

Elizabethan Country

Let us suppose we're talking country matters:
we'll set them to the lute and sing along,
and since all lovers be as mad as hatters
we'll interject "hey nonnies" in the song.

This country got no trailers, got no dawgs,
no pickups with a gun rack overhead,
but it got lots of rhythm, and its clogs
go gallivanting in line dancing's stead.

This country got more dalliance than ours,
got galliards and sweeping bows and such,
got everything you need to pass the hours,
don't look into no private lives too much.

So, Madam, let me take you by the hand
and lead you in a stately allemande.