A Reply to Hamlet

“To be, or not to be?” asked Hamlet's 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 feet 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 frail beauty and brief glory while it's here, for in life all that's sublime and dark in this world is just transitory. None can say for sure if the sleep of death is g'ntler than life: so, cherish every breath.