Yard Sale of Thoughts

A green girl
my first pseudonym was
borrowed from the Bard's pen.

Do you doubt that at age ten, a trip to the outlets
I asked for an illustrated version?

Hamlet,
Suck'd the honey of his music vows,
Tis in my memory lock'd.
But when I decided to begin,
Ophelia fit in.

My graveyard writing days.

See, we know what we are,
but know not what we may be.
And for me,
it was easier to speak the language of 
the flowers,
to communicate through petals,
than to get to sleep.

Th' effect of this good lesson keep.

While many of those learn'd men
tried to show me the steep 
and thorny way to heaven,
bend(ed) their light on me,

one took me by the wrist and held me hard
(rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind.)

For wise men know well enough what
monsters you(th) make(s) of them.

My flowerhead.
Pale as his shirt,
shroud as the mountain snow.
O, woe is me!
T' have seen what I have seen, 
see what I see!

Like Ophelia
I let go,
undertow.
And like a mole, the poet
find his way without his eyes.

And in my words,
my poems, 
remembrances (of yours) that
I have longed long to re-deliver.

Barefac'd on the bier
without fear, shouting,
Go to thy deathbed!

I wore the costumes of the time period:

Get thee to a nunnery!

Marry a fool; 
and before long, I did too.

Sweet bells jangled, out of tune, and
I suck'd the honey of his music vows,
unmatch'd form and feature of blown youth.

Blasted with ecstasy.

Ophelia is dead and gone,
'So would I 'a' done, by yonder sun,
An thou(ghts) hadst not come to my bed.

One summer solstice, I bid her adieu. 

Good night, ladies. Good night, sweet
ladies. Good night, good night!

With a difference (wear your rue).

©2024 | K.F. Hartless

Cover Art: John William Waterhouse “Ophelia” 1894

Prompt: Write a poem based on the “Proust Questionnaire,” a set of questions drawn from Victorian-era parlor games, and adapted by modern interviewers. This poem is about my first writing pseudonym that I used for over a decade. It incorporates many lines spoken by Ophelia in “Hamlet” as well as my own experiences as a youth. Oh, I do hope it makes sense. Although, perhaps it’s better if it only does a little.