Hamlet's Ghost Reflects Upon His Willfulness, And The Silent Treachery Of The Other Players As Regards The Play's Outcome Poem by Dennis Ryan

Sunday afternoon, April 23,2017 at 1: 48 p.m.; then at 7: 31 p.m.; Tuesday morning,
May 2 at 8: 55 a.m.; Saturday morning, June 17 at 7: 57 a.m.; Friday morning,
September 222017 at 8: 10 a.m.; Friday morning, January 4,2019 at 10: 06 a.m.

"The rest is silenced."
- William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Hamlet's final words, Act 5, Scene 2, L 369


Had I but known the intent of your silences then,
would it have changed the outcome, my course?
No, I think not.I was destined for this— all silences
notwithstanding.But pray, wait... Strange to speak
of destiny and will.But still... wait.You Horatio,
you mother, you Polonius, you Laertes, you Ophelia,
and even you, rank Claudius! I did so want to be
an obedient son who acted circumspectly.Alas!
I became who I am through no fault of my own—
and so it has gone until now, whence I was silenced...
(Yes, silenced.Action! Action! Not that I shied away
from it—that I was found wanting.)What didn't they
do to silence me, and I, always on the offensive—
that bravado, those challenges well-met regardless
of circumstances.After a term, they learned who they
were dealing with, and lived to regret it—first, Polonious,
then Laertes, and then the king—aye, I took his measure
as he cried out weakly for help—coward that he was—
I cherish the memory of dealing that blow—despite—
but wait... the tragic outcome.I dealt him justice—
the justice he so richly deserved upon murdering
my father to sleep with the queen my mother. And yet.
But wait.Must I dwell on this further? No, clear
your mind, bright ghost.The thing that bothers most—
one can deal with silence alone.The thing that bothers
most are the silent betrayals—the lies, the deceptions,
treachery issuing from loved ones—my best friends,
other trusted members of the kingdom.What to make
of them, so complicit in their lies, treacheries, simulations?
The times may be out of joint, yet ‘tis still ever alive,
ever alive even for us, we ghosts, to save a situation.
Let me think on this further... I cast my lot with you
and you and you—my confidants in heaven and hell.