Sweet and tender <br />Delicate prince <br />Noble Hamlet by treachery slain. <br />And Romeo lies in a darkened tomb <br />No Juliet to save him with a palmer’s kiss. <br />Henry the Fifth, rebellious Hal <br />Is old and tired <br />His battles won <br />No Hotspur to challenge the royal throne. <br />Richard the Third, that villainous rogue, <br />Has breathed his last <br />“A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse.” <br />Othello mocked <br />His rage long spent <br />Victor and victim by the self-same hand. <br />And Lear, old fool <br />Can weep no more <br />In the mud and dust of a bloody field. <br />All are dead. <br />Dead and buried <br />In the couplets of an ancient rhyme. <br /> <br />But Olivier lives. <br /> <br /> <br />(Previously published in Aileron, Winter '99)<br /><br />Laurence Overmire<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/goodnight-sweet-prince-a-tribute-to-laurence-olivier/
