Classic Poem

The birth-place of Mr. William Shakespeare author
Of Timon and other poetry including
“Who sees his true love on her naked bed
Teaching the sheets” including also sonnets
“To one of one still such and ever so”
Or Lincoln's in Kentucky where they say,
From This to That: Think of it! (If they could!)
Or Dante Alighieri's—Godi Fiorenza—
Has not been found. They cannot fix their marbles
Just where the year twelve hundred sixty five
Rolled up the Arno or where time and Troy
And Stratford crossed each other. On this spot—
Where now, where now along the great ecliptic
Traced by a wandering planet that unwinds
Space into hours?—
Upon this very spot
The year of Christ one thousand five six four—
And of Erasmus four score seventeen
And Leonardo one one two—
was born—
To P. Ovidius Naso and the queen
Lying in Florida on a Venetian bed
Carved with the loves of Venus—
William Shakespeare.