“Controllers Of Past; Enemies Of Future” [#7/10 reflections on Stephen Greenblatt’s book – Tyrant – Shakespeare on Politics]
Macbeth, the play I like the most,
Is ’bout a tyrant – life is toast
For him once he’s complicitous –
To all become duplicitous.For wrong creeps on to other wrong;
One’s heart dismisses thoughts of song;
Another’s drive to gain a throne
Mistaken was – drive was her own.But in the days ’fore Women’s Lib,
A woman’s drive, both small and big,
Was played out through her spouse’s acts,
When drive was hers, not his, in fact.Well, now it is most curious –
A woman’s schemes, non-glorious,
Are played out in a veil which hides
Her guilt – “No sin in me resides”.But then I think of Solomon,
When old, with kingly duties done,
Reflected on upstanding men –
“One in a thousand” – then again –For women (he’d seven hundred wives,
Three hundred concubines besides)
“Not even one upstanding is
Per thousand” – such a dreadful biz”.I care not for his stats, or source,
But stunned that I am – for wives, of course,
Are painted to the modern eye
As “Innocence”, and “Victims” – why?I do not know, but push and shove,
The game men play, side-stepping love,
Is taken up by women now –
Gives same results – my guess that’s how.But why? That’s way above my grade
Of pay – perhaps of Adam made,
Therefore the same; now role’s the same
From both results no different came.Lord, tyrants, big and little, are
In swirl around us – so, by Gar,
We need to look into a mirror
To see ourselves with picture clear.For we absorb the scene we’re in;
On Kingdom-layer we can begin
To put a different ending on
Our lives so far – take back our song.Thanks Lord for this.
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