In Reply To Hamlet's Soliloquy

“To be, or not?” asked Hamlet, tortured soul,

     a mind transfixed between looming limbo

and life's thin, airy hold; this loathsome role,

     philosophers and poets have played (though

some now sleep). Not wealth, nor the lap of pleasure,

     nor thought, strength, health, youth, nor unbridled power,

nor in the lines of this poem's solemn measure

     can be found the answer: life's but a flower,

a precious gift, that lives for a short time

     still. Enjoy its beauty and brief glory

while it's here, for in life all that's sublime

     and dark in this world is transitory. 

None can say for sure if the sleep of death

is gentler than life: so cherish every breath.  

By Ngoc Nguyen

From: United States