I find myself reborn and called to write
New dramas for this so-much altered age
In language cultivated to delight
The modern auditors who view my stage.
And yet for all I’ve heard of what now passes
For dramatic dialogue, they have lost the art
Of eloquence, and poetry alas is
Banished from the boards, its very heart.
No, I’ll content myself with forgery
And make my living as a scholar who
Will unearth long-lost manuscripts and be
The publisher of Shakespeare’s residue
(Along with evidence of who I was,
So much maligned by current scholars’ buzz).
*