You came with pilgrims
Reinvented with each generation
Reinventing us as we grow.
Woven like aqua thread
into Navajo fabrics,
infused like apple
into Appalachian honey,
your words spring up
in our yesterdays
and todays.
As we meet Lear,
we know our neighbors;
as we meet Ophelia,
we know our daughters.
As we meet Antony, we
know our friends,
as we meet Iago,
we know our enemies.
When we meet Hamlet,
we meet ourselves–
indecisive, impractical,
cowardly to a point of courage.
Striking while the iron
glowed red with provenance,
where our stories begin.
And The Tempest in a coffee pot
As we like it here in the States
bellows out about our brave new world,
and we, like Prospero, see our
past as prologue, and you,
Good Will, our guide.
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