Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BALLADS AND CANTILENAS: KING CLAUDIUS, by PAUL FORT


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BALLADS AND CANTILENAS: KING CLAUDIUS, by                    
First Line: Cypress, geraniums, bleak hedge of my parterre, from the chase I
Last Line: Madame, you need not fear. I shall have drunk the wine.
Subject(s): Courts & Courtiers; Dramatists; Flowers; Plays & Playwrights ; Poetry & Poets; Shakespeare, William (1564-1616); Travel; Royal Court Life; Royalty; Kings; Queens; Dramatists; Journeys; Trips


Cypress, geraniums, bleak hedge of my parterre, from the chase I come once more,
with grief that sharper gnaws. 'Tis still in my black park the entrance
sinister, when evening o'er the world its golden mantle draws,

still the entry of a brother that has his brother slain. And 'tis my dame, the
Queen, who is the cause of all. To the high tower we mount and gaze upon the
main, to dreadful torpor stilled, a sea of pitch and gall.

From his barque Prince Hamlet leaps. Home from the jousts he fares. Is he mad?
How red he is! He's sweating, this dear child! Alas! Go sound his heart, sweet
Gertrude, mother mild, while We to hide Ourselves descend six hundred stairs.

At each loophole's chink the sun a lowlier beam doth show. 'Tis the hour when in
the vaults one sees the rising moon in the eyes of monstrous rats. But, tender
mother, go to dry Our noble son lest he contract a rheum.

This evening he shall see this tranquil face of mine (he loves such games) along
the lighted passage wend, that in his room is lost -- the pathway to the end.
Madame, you need not fear. I shall have drunk the wine.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net