PAEAN

                    Of writers worth our study, first the Bard
                    Deserves our reverent analysis,
                    But not because his verse and plays are hard,
                    Yet rather that they generate such bliss
                    When deeply understood, and that takes time
                    To probe and then unfold his subtleties
                    Then tune in to his meter and his rhyme
                    Which better understood, the better please.
                    Four centuries by now have certified
                    The wonder of his artful legacy;
                    The negligence of time he had defied
                    And earned the right to immortality.
                         If ever this grand legacy be lost,
                         We’ll know our woeful world’s been tempest-tossed.

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