“What’s that?” The gentleman standing beside me eyed the scroll in my hand.  We had just completed the final ritual of Jewel in the Claw, the five-act workshop written by Steve and set in Elizabethan England. Steve had played Shakespeare… as well as nobly fulfilling the role of Cecil when one of our Companions had been unavoidably unable to join us.

As is customary, we were gathering on the staircase. Being amongst the first to leave the Temple, I was in prime position at the head of the stairs and could command attention when all were assembled. Steve would be amongst the last to leave and, therefore, there would be no escape…

Drawing myself grandly to my full height, which still left me a foot or so shorter than my companion, I brandished the sealed and beribboned scroll…

“I have written a sonnet for the Bard…”

Ship of Fools

*

The tale is over, and to playwright’s pen

Must we, in fairness, offer recompense,

To he who wrote this tale of maids and men

(And into five acts neatly did condense).

That, travelling through time and inner space

Where wonders wait, and wondering we play

With human nature writ upon our face

Upon a temple floor of night and day.

Within this Ship of Fools we caught the tide

And, floundering, revealed the sailor’s star

That shines within each heart and does not hide

Unless perception dims it from afar.

So, though the play is done, we will not grieve,

In joyous knowledge now we take our leave…

*

For Steve