Nature teaches us our tongue again <br />And the swift sentences came pat. I came <br />Into cool night rescued from rainy dawn. <br />And I seethed with language - Henry at <br />Harfleur and Agincourt came apt for war <br />In Ireland and the Middle East. Here was <br />The riddling and right tongue, the feeling words <br />Solid and dutiful. Aspiring hope <br />Met purpose in "advantages" and "He <br />That fights with me today shall be my brother." <br />Say this is patriotic, out of date. <br />But you are wrong. It never is too late <br /> <br />For nights of stars and feet that move to an <br />Iambic measure; all who clapped were linked, <br />The theatre is our treasury and too, <br />Our study, school-room, house where mercy is <br /> <br />Dispensed with justice. Shakespeare has the mood <br />And draws the music from the dullest heart. <br />This is our birthright, speeches for the dumb <br />And unaccomplished. Henry has the words <br />For grief and we learn how to tell of death <br />With dignity. "All was as cold" she said <br />"As any stone" and so, we who lacked scope <br />For big or little deaths, increase, grow up <br />To purposes and means to face events <br />Of cruelty, stupidity. I walked <br />Fast under stars. The Avon wandered on <br />"Tomorrow and tomorrow". Words aren't worn <br />Out in this place but can renew our tongue, <br />Flesh out our feeling, make us apt for life.<br /><br />Elizabeth Jennings<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-performance-of-henry-v-at-stratford-upon-avon/
