The ghosts of former tyrants haunt the tyrant
knowing well that’s something rotten in the state
always grows, inspire the assassins wielding
poison blades at night; the tyrant knows that foes
are found within his closest ranks, as Ivan found
his Preussian wife the great, conspired, lied
and later took the land the tyrant now can claim..
The tyrant looks for Hamlet, Brutus among serfs
in soldiers, in children, doctors, friends and cooks.
His fear is growing and in his rage he maims
the innocent, those who tell the truths, the world
Who will end this play, who will slay the slayer well?
Gustave Moreau
Today we are celebrating the Bard at dVerse with Ingrid by writing poetry inspired by a play by Shakespeare. I didn’t write to a specific form and haven’t counted syllables but I think it may well be close to real blank verse.
Any parallel to current political events is not coincidental. There is a rumor that Katherine the Great had her husband the Tsar killed before she went to colonize the part of Ukraine that she called New Russia with her lover Potemkin.
There is something rotten in the state of …
April 26, 2022
Björn Rudbergs writings 
There is certainly a tyrant of Shakespearian proportions at play on the world stage right now…
Yes… and there is something rotten there as well with all that corruption.
For sure!
I could feel the tyrant’s paranoia growing.
Here that biting style of yours comes into full force…I sought the very same to read as you wrote when I arrived here, and was not disappointed …your poem challenges wisely, for the evidence mounts, I think, for a Brutus or such, as his paranoia is showing…
History and the plays always tell the same story… his paranoia is just growing, just like so many before him.
I love your gritty retelling and how it captures the tangled and twisted web of Hamlet. Much enjoyed.
We can only pray that such bloody instruction returns to plague th’ inventor. Everyone wants a piece of Ukraine, but are presently finding it hard to digest. Well done, friend …
you have conjoined the current events with this worthy tribute seamlessly Bjorn. Highlighting his fear, rage and mounting paranoia … so very like the ruthless royalty in Billy’s plays!
“His fear is growing and in his rage he maims
the innocent, those who tell the truths, the world
Who will end this play, who will slay the slayer well?”
Who indeed? May the tyrant’s fate be as Herod the Great’s.
Oh my, extremely descriptive and shows that history repeats itself, time and time again.
And When will the tryant be slain? Is utmost in our minds today
Much💛love
The parallels are frighteningly real – if only it were just a play.
I think we both were thinking of the same. Yours is gritty and replete with history.
Great to have a bit of commentary. You are asking the right questions. I hope the answers come soon.
So much of history repeats–who will slay the slayer indeed?
We can’t seem to get off the wheel, repeating the same mistakes over and over…(K)