He Looks as Old as Hatred Now
Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem
“Alas, poor Yorick”
“instruments of darkness tell us truths” ~ Shakespeare, Macbeth
He looks as old as hatred now. This scene
The camera snapped from ogling point beside
Him in his bed is bitter as a spleen
Implied in shine of nose from light near snide
In cruelty. This cruelty lurked in
An act of love or something like it, near
The lens that skulks as close as serpent sin.
The snap is merciless despite the blear,
Revealing like an arc light trained on death,
The ruthlessness of unrelenting truth.
The playwright and the poet writes Macbeth.
The skull pretends it never shone with youth.
A Shaw might wring a laugh from wisp of hair
And clamoring beard but under that, despair.
~ Phillip Whidden