The words that make us think and fill our hearts
That save the brains whose names the headlines fill
Are all too often writ by counterparts,
Who slave away backstage, and can’t reveal:
“That line that made the crowd uproar was mine!”
“That tear in your eye is a tear that I put there!”
Perhaps behind the scenes for some is fine,
But even then, they do deserve some share.
Some say the Bard himself may not have been
The Bard himself, but someone else, an Earl,
Or Bacon, Johnson, Chris Marlowe, but then,
The oyster always matters less than pearl.
So lend an ear, and give your hands, and exit
Chased by a bear. The work’s the thing that’s kept.