Lighten up, Shakespeare

In the dark musty streets of London town

A man scribes in blood, under a link boys glow.

Capturing crowds, with mad princes and clowns

while tragedy befalls a sweet-lipped Romeo.

*

No thoughts of fame, as the boy holds tarred flame

twisting poetry, like ghosts on a page.

Scraping hard with his quill, feather shadows

creep in. Plunging daggers in Romans and knaves.

*

Now the lantern doth fade, parchment saturated

with corruptions for revelrous crowds.

The link boy is praised for his flame by the bard -

Measure for Measure, he pays what he owes.

*

But only in death, will this man truly glow

William Shakespeare, the King of the show.