Ophelia's Song

Ophelia: O! God! I am drench’d! Fie!



Water! Water! Hence with thee! Where art my garlands?



Look, ho!
Contented thirst doth make thee sag, entwined petals unclench’d



Poor, pretty things! Thy bonds hath abandoned thee



Now despair doth make ye float.
I feel myself return’d, senses half-brought.
O! Open eyes! Am I a heart-ached fool?
Presently cloth’d with spirits perhaps better than kin –
They doth not put strings on my hair and painfully tug

Look how they fight for mine breath!


Wish to God yon liv’d and beat a warm heart – instead.


Ere my heart filled wi’ daisy, alas, my Achilles’ heel,





Twas my lord this, my lord that! Before them I kneel’d.
I am my father’s murderer’s lover,
Slain by love for both, and man’s earnest will
One I canst embrace while other commands
Whence other lies on Death’s boat!
Thy black-coated shoulders told my reach’d hand to away,
Pat something else; get thee to a nunnery, he says.
Forget thee the time we broke the Christian covenant.
Mine breasts hath swell’d with Aphrodite’s longing,
Thou knowest, yet wrenched the nipples off my flesh
Raked thru’ with claws, thy cruel menace – and doth kill my heart.
Wherefore thou leave? Thy restless beat hides from me!
Did thou give me daisies, and received true?
But thine eyes shine not with lies, thusly I am half a fool.


Dear father of mine, who’s dead and gone!


Be St. Augustine’s immortal flesh’d peacock,


Never a maggot-face writhing white
The phoenix cycle of a never-ending clock.

Thou art beloved, murder’d by my beloved,
And so doth this matter ends.
Lonely thoughts do cast harlot’s venom.
Marry, methinks to baccare,
Mine wits restored, vision unfogged
Nay! No more! Get thee none backwards, Ophelia
Look onto thy good hummingbird, fly forwards from this willow’d brook.
Alas! ‘tis too late! The spirits hath gone!
No choice now. To thy undiscovered land!
Goodbye, my sweet. Adieu, and farewell. [drowns.]